Home is Where You Hang Your Crossbow
by Kamara
Summary: Buffy gets a Big Sister
1. Default Chapter Title

Home is Where You Hang Your Crossbow  
Part One  
  
By Kamara Lufkin  
  
stealthbunny@msn.com  
  
Normal disclaimers -- No money making am I off this...  
  
  
"The whole thing stinks!" Buffy Summers leaned back in her chair, propping  
her feet against the table edge. "I don't need a baby-sitter."  
  
"Apparently Principal Snyder thinks so," Xander said sarcastically from across  
the room. "It's a good thing he doesn't really knows what's going on, isn't  
it? It's bad enough with him just thinking you're a teen-age delinquent.  
Imagine if he knew you toast vampires and other icky things in your off  
hours?"  
  
"I don't have any off hours," Buffy wailed. "It's bad enough that I had to  
take all those make-up tests, then get that reccommendation, keep my grades  
up, train with Mister Bookworm Perfectionist, spend nights patrolling for  
things that go bump in the night, but now I have a baby-sitter two afternoons  
a week."  
  
"It might not be that bad," Willow offered. "We'll stick with you. She can't  
be as bad if we're in a group. Like, you couldn't get cornered by her wanting  
to help you in your troubled teen-aged years. Such as they are, you know."  
  
"Gee, thanks, Will. I feel so much better."  
  
"You're welcome," she chirped, Buffy's sarcasm not lost on her for a moment,  
but she went on tapping at the computer.  
  
The door to Giles' office opened, and he wandered out, deep in a book, as  
usual. He looked up and saw them clustered around the table, and closed the  
book. "What's wrong now?"  
  
Buffy smiled tightly. "Principal Snyder has added another item on the  
Conditions-to-Letting -Buffy-Back-in-School list. I'm getting a Big Sister."  
  
Giles raised his eyebrows. "I wasn't aware you had any sisters, Buffy."  
  
Buffy groaned and let her chair fall foward. She buried her face in her  
hands.  
  
"It's a program for troubled teens," Willow piped up.  
  
"Yeah," Cordelia said. "You know, for kids with gang problems, or druggies.  
The last shot for them before becoming hopeless."  
  
"You're a wonderful help, too, Cordelia," Buffy said from between her fingers.  
  
"You see, they match the kid up with a mentor, who's supposed to guide and  
help them, kinda like a big sister or brother," Willow finished smoothly, as  
if Cordelia hadn't broken in."  
  
Buffy peeked out. "I even asked if I could pick the mentor. I figured, what  
better a mentor than a librarian. It's nice and boring and stuffy and all  
that."  
  
"Er... thank you for the vote in confidence....I think. However, I don't  
really get the impression that Principal Snyder approves of me much more than  
he does of you."  
  
"What does the line 'and the less time you spend with certain English  
Librarians the better' mean to you?" Buffy mimicked the principal's sneering  
voice with credible accuracy. Giles looked like he was storing the comment in  
the back of his mind, not that he really needed another reason to dislike the  
principal.  
  
"So," Buffy continued, in her own voice, "I get a baby-sitter twice a week.  
She ran her fingers moodily over a crack in the table surface. "I even called  
Mom at lunch, to see if she'd stick up for me, now that she knows I'm the  
Slayer and all. I figured she could get me out of this."  
  
"And I take it that it didn't work?" Giles asked.  
  
Buffy scowled. "She thought it was a terrific idea, because then I would be  
spending less time slaying." She shook her head. "Y'know, in some ways, it's  
easier with her knowing. Less secrets to keep, less sneaking around to do.  
But now she just worries more. She still can't believe I can't just give this  
up and let someone else do it." She shot Giles a side-long glance that he  
couldn't quite translate. "I kinda get the feeling she's not crazy about you  
right now, either."  
  
"Yes, well..." Giles stopped before he said anything else along that line. He  
knew Joyce Sommers blamed him for putting her daughter in so much danger, but  
he didn't want to contribute any further to the current uncomfortable  
relationship between mother and daughter. Buffy had enough problems as it  
was. "So when does all this start?"  
  
"Today," Buffy chirped with false enthusiasm. "Get the feeling that this was  
planned and they decided to spring it on me at the last minute?"  
  
"Do you want us to come with you and protect you?" Willow asked, peeking out  
from behind the computer."  
  
"Nah," Buffy said, shoving books into her knapsack. "That's all right."  
  
"Oh, good," Willow said, relieved. "I mean... not good in an ignoring-you  
sort of way, but good in a way that I'm researching some new spells, and..."  
She broke off, quickly; she was never sure how Giles would react to her  
magical studies. But the librarian merely said midly, "Willow, I've told you  
that you shouldn't be fooling around in that area."  
  
"I want to be ready to help," Willow protested, in a tone that hinted she had  
a list of reasons rehearsed, but she was grateful when someone knocked on the  
open doors to the library. She stored the list away for another time and  
deftly brought up a blank window on the computer screen to cover the 'Net  
sources she had been brousing through. Not that anyone at idle glance would  
realize just why she was researching occult sites, but she always thought it  
was better to be safe. She peeked around the computer.  
  
Giles had gone into automatic-librarian. "Can I help you?"  
  
The woman came in and paused hesitantly at the circulation desk. I'm looking  
for Buffy Sommers, and I was told she'd probably be here."  
  
Buffy glowered. "Are you the Big Sister?"  
  
The woman grinned and nodded. Buffy couldn't guess her age, but it was at  
least ten years older than herself. She had a mane of burnished red hair that  
fell in front of bright green eyes. She was dressed in black, wearing a  
leather jacket, and, like a student, she carried a knapsack lightly over one  
shoulder. "That's me. I'm Sarah Cullen." Her voice was low-pitched, not  
soft, but deep in timbre, almost hoarse. "From the thrilled look on your  
face, you must be Buffy."  
  
"You don't look the type," Cordelia said in her usual lightly thoughtless way.  
She cocked her head and looked at the woman consideringly. "Shouldn't you be  
dressed in a business suit, or wearing something with cute happy warm-fuzzy  
sayings on it?"  
  
"Don't mind her," Xander said quickly. "She just forgot to take her  
Considerate Pills this morning. If she forgets her medication..."  
  
Cordelia smacked at his shoulder, and Xander ducked smoothly out of the way  
before her hand connected.  
  
The woman smirked. "Well, I'm not one for warm-fuzzies, and I'm not a  
business person, and I've never met the sterotypes." She thought a moment.  
"At least, not in a long time," she conceeded, in what was obviously some kind  
of private joke that they weren't supposed to understand.  
  
There was an uncomfortable silence, then Giles, ever the proper one, stepped  
forward to make introductions. Buffy was surprised when the woman shook hands  
with each of them, as an equal, not an adult prepared to lecture the rebellous  
youths. Then she scowled down at the table, because she really didn't want to  
like this intruder in her life.  
  
The woman raked her hair out of her eyes. It was redder than Willow's,  
burnished and gleaming in the afternoon sun streaming down from the skylight.  
"Actually, I was also told all of you would probably be here, too. That  
you're practically inseperable and I was probably going to inherit the group,  
rather than the individual. She smiled softly at Giles. "You must be the  
English Librarian I heard about."  
  
The capitol letters he heard around the words gave him the hint. "You've been  
talking to Principal Snyder, I assume."  
  
She grinned. "No. People like that you don't talk with. They talk at you."  
She swung her knapsack on the desk and took out a folder a couple of inches  
thick. "He had a lot to say." She hefted the folder, then tossed it to the  
desk. "I think he's enjoyed putting that file together. Horrid little toad,  
isn't he?"  
  
Damn, Buffy thought wistfully. I may end up liking her after all.  
  
Giles smiled a little, as if in spite of himself. "Miss Cullen, you might be  
understating that a mite."  
  
"Just Sarah, please. I'm not into all that formality stuff." She  
deliberately left the folder on the desk and zipped up her knapsack. "And,  
unfortunately, Buffy, since I'm sure you have better things to do than pander  
to a reptile's twisted sense of righteous vengence, I need to drag you away  
for a while. I'll try not to make it too painful."  
  
You don't know what pain is, Buffy mused, but she finished shoving her books  
into her bag, where they would stay until tomorrow, yet another night's  
homework undone. The days were getting shorter, too, with the season. It  
meant that the patrolling sessions started earlier and went longer, too, just  
like night. She sighed heavily, then waved half-heartedly to the rest of the  
Slayerettes as she followed her new Big Sister out of the library.  
  
The folder was left untouched on the circulation desk, until Giles tucked it  
away in a pile later, as eager to deliberately forget it as the woman...  
Sarah... seemed to be.  
  
*  
  
Buffy walked through the hallway in uncomfortable silence, waiting for Sarah  
to say something. Anything. When she couldn't take it any longer, she  
lengthened her stride just slightly to put herself even with the older woman.  
"Not that I usually agree with Cordelia," she said lightly. "But she is  
right. You don't look like someone who'd be a Big Sister. Or act like one."  
She eyed the black jeans and leather jacket. "I'm surprised Principal Snyder  
even agreed to you."  
  
"Reptile," Sarah said again with a snort. "He never even wanted me to say  
anything past 'Yes, I'll take her off your hands for you.'" Then she grinned.  
"Well, I was dressed a little differently, too. And I didn't exactly say what  
I was thinking, either, or I would have been bounced right out his office and  
on my merry way. 'Sides, I don't think you need any more lecturing in your  
life, do you?"  
  
"No," Buffy said warily. This was not what she expected. "So... what are we  
doing here?"  
  
Sarah stopped just outside the school. The last of the sunlight was pooling  
in front of the doors, and she stood in it, eyes closed, and leaned back into  
the warmth. After a moment, she sighed and opened her eyes. She winced at  
the light, then fished around in her pockets until she came up with a pair of  
sunglasses and put them on. They were mirrored; Buffy couldn't see the  
woman's eyes any longer, and it made her a little nervous. Years of Slayer  
paranoia kicked in, making her fidget, wondering if she should be worried.  
Anything could happen in Sunnydale. Her shoulders felt tight in the ever-  
present feeling of apprehension.  
  
"What do you think we should do?" Sarah asked her.  
  
Buffy grabbed on a reason to dislike her. "What, is this going to be some  
shrink-thought here? I think deeply for a moment, then tell you what's wrong  
with my life and you magically fix it? Well, maybe not magically," she added  
hastily. "I mean, no such thing as magic, right? Just doesn't work that way.  
But the psychaitrist stuff, I get enough of that from teachers and guidence  
counselors."  
  
"I imagine you do," Sarah said with a touch of irony. "No, that wasn't what I  
meant. What do you want to do? Do you want just to meet to talk, to go do  
things that you don't get a chance to do? With all the tutoring you've been  
getting, you probably don't get much of a chance away from school."  
  
"I spend more time in the library than anywhere else," Buffy said truthfully.  
She just left out the part about training there, not reading. "But look, my  
life is really..." she gestured wordlessly, trying to come up with a good  
word.  
  
"Complicated?" Sarah supplied.  
  
"Yes," Buffy seized at it. "Look, I know what Principal Snyder would have  
told you, but I'm doing much better now. I-- I had a bad break-up with a  
boyfriend --" like you wouldn't believe! "--and I had some problems... but I'm  
better now. Really. I'm back in school, I've passed my make-up tests, I'm...  
I'm in regular tutoring. Things are better. I really don't need this. And  
you probably have better things to do. So... what say we just go separate  
ways, and we say we did this and get back to our own lives?"  
  
Sarah seemed to be studying the tips of her boots, trying not to smile. "It  
doesn't really work that way, Buffy, and I think you know that. But it was a  
wonderful try. Very admirable."  
  
"Yeah. So glad you approve," she muttered.  
  
"There's a coffee shop a few blocks up from here, isn't there? C'mon. My  
treat. Soda, coffee, whatever is your way of taking caffeine."  
  
Buffy sighed, unable to see any way out of it. "Yeah, sure. Whatever." She  
forced a cheerful smile.  
  
"You know," Sarah said as they settled at an outdoor table. Buffy had taken  
the offer of caffeine and was working on a large soda. After all, I still  
have to patrol tonight. And study. Yeah, right. We know which is getting  
ignored on that list of priorities. Sarah had both a cup of coffee and one of  
tea. Buffy stared at the two mugs. Sarah shrugged. "I can't drink coffee  
anymore. And I miss it." She sighed. "Terribly. So I get a cup to sit  
there and smell wonderful, and I drink the tea."  
  
"Why don't you drink decaf?"  
  
"It's the coffee, not the caffiene. Weird medical problem. Don't worry 'bout  
it. Anyway, you're not really what I expected either." She slipped off her  
sunglasses and peered out from under wild curls of hair at the petite blonde.  
"From the way your principal talked, and from that file, he made you out to be  
a six foot tall terrorist or something. Now, even I could tell he has a  
vandetta against teen agers in general and you in particular, but you do have  
the police record behind you, expulsion, some vague connection with a few  
murders of some people close to you, terrible grades and attendance record,  
despite the tutoring and the imput from your teachers saying you're are  
extremely intelligent, but you don't apply yourself. Now, have I hit most of  
the basic cliche's for you?"  
  
Buffy nodded, spreading her hands out in front of her. "Pretty much. Now is  
this where you tell me that it's a shame I'm wasting so much potential and  
that I should start getting my life together, set up some goals, think about  
college, grow up a little?"  
  
"Ooh, there's a few cliche's I missed," she chirped. "Nope, sorry to  
disappoint you. I'm not here to lecture. Don't do that stuff, never liked it  
when it was aimed towards me, I'm not going to push it back towards you."  
  
"Wow." Buffy was impressed. "An adult that remembers what it was like to be  
a kid! Most people seem to forget that as soon as they have a kid."  
  
"Ah, that's probably it, then. I don't have kids." Her smile faltered for a  
second, and she looked extremely interested in stirring her tea. She tasted  
it and made a face. "Blech. Stewed grass clippings. Anyway, if you want  
help with all that stuff, college applications, lessons, life plans, sure,  
just let me know. But you can get that from any of a dozen people at your  
school. What else would you like to do?"  
  
Buffy toyed with a packet of sugar, shoving it around aimlessly. It had been  
so long since she had been just... normal, that she couldn't really remember  
what she did. She shrugged. "I just haven't had much time lately. I really  
don't have much of a life outside of... well, outside of school."  
  
"Not much to do in Sunnydale?"  
  
"Understatement." Well, unless you consider the Hellmouth...  
  
Sarah sat back. "I didn't realize I was so rotten at this."  
  
"It's not that," Buffy felt obligated to protest. "You're being real nice and  
all. It's just that my life is just.... complicated," she said again. "How'd  
you get stuck with me, anyway?" she rushed on, trying to change the subject.  
  
Sarah thought for a moment. "Similar backgrounds, I guess." Not a chance,  
went through Buffy's mind. "I've had a lot of people in my life die, too. I  
got into a lot of fights. I guess they thought we were a good pairing."  
  
"What'd you fight about?"  
  
"Oh, things that I felt were important. Sometimes they were, sometimes I only  
thought they were. Sometimes, they were just things I couldn't avoid. And I  
dropped out of school. College, not high school, but... life happens, doesn't  
it?" she finished dryly.  
  
Buffy glanced away from her and back down to the packet of sugar that she had  
stopped pushing around and was beginning to fold over and over. "Yeah. I  
guess it does."  
  
"Ah, well." Sarah drained her tea cup in one last swallow and wistfully  
pushed the coffee aside. "Go. Be free for the rest of the afternoon. I'll  
see you day after tomorrow."  
  
Buffy looked up at her suspiciously. "You mean... that's it?"  
  
"For today," she said pleasantly. "Take care of yourself." She pushed away  
from the table and strode away, joining the rest of the moving crowd on the  
sidewalk. Buffy caught sight of her red hair again at the corner, then it  
vanished.  
  
*  
  
"I guess it really wasn't that bad," Buffy said later that night to Willow.  
They were sitting on the concrete fencing surrounding the cemetary. "She  
seems nice and all that. If I didn't have all this Slayer stuff to worry  
'bout, it might be kinda fun to hang with her. She's at least in this  
century, which is more than I can say for Giles most times."  
  
Willow swung her feet, bouncing her heels off the concrete. "Well, maybe it  
won't be for long. Like, maybe if you just act normal for a few meetings,  
she'll give glowing reports of you, and Principal Snyder will give up."  
  
They looked at each other. "Naaah," they both chorused.  
  
Buffy idly played with the wooden stake she was holding, tossing it up in the  
air and flipping it before neatly catching it. "It's just that... I have so  
little free time as it is. Mom's going to start flipping even more, soon, if  
she doesn't see more of me than behind bruises and bandages." The stake flew  
higher, each flip more elaborate than the last. Buffy idly mused upon taking  
up juggling, then decided she really had to get more sleep if her mind was  
wandering that much.  
  
A hand snatched the stake out of mid-air at the peak of a flip. Buffy nearly  
teleported out of her skin, before she recognized Oz perched up on the fence.  
Apparently, he had walked up to them along the top of the fence line while  
they were talking. I'm really out of it, if I didn't hear him. But her  
vampie radar hadn't gone off, so maybe her mind had just tuned him out.  
Still, there are other things than vamps out here, and I wasn't paying  
attention. Giles would have a field day with the lectures.  
  
Willow was beaming at her boyfriend. The two were such a perfect couple, that  
Buffy would have been annoyed at their cloying sweetness, if Willow hadn't  
been her best friend. She was really happy for Willow, and Oz was the most  
laid-back and gentle boys she had ever met, even if he was a werewolf. It was  
just that she was so tired and lonely all the time, and it was hard seeing Oz  
and Willow, or for that matter Xander and Cordelia, happy together. She  
couldn't help letting it make her depression worse. She rubbed at her eyes,  
and her gaze was drawn to her hand where the ring Angel had given her no  
longer was. Her hand looked so empty without it. She felt so empty without  
him. Her world had ended, but the world kept going around her, forcing her  
along with it. She almost hoped she would find a vamp tonight, just so she  
could forget everything but the fight, just for a few seconds of adreneline  
rush, of relief from the pain.  
  
Oz dropped a kiss on the top of Willow's head and handed the stake back to  
Buffy. "Everything looks quiet tonight," he said. "If you can handle things,  
I think I'll walk Willow home."  
  
"Yeah, I should get home on time at least one night this week," Willow sighed.  
  
"Go on," Buffy said. "I may just call it early for the night." She peered  
around at the gloom of headstones and statues, hoping she'd see something that  
would keep her out a little longer. Going home was worse than staying out;  
worrying had become a twenty-four hour a day job for her mother, and it was so  
hard to look at her and see the pain and panic in her eyes. It was better to  
stay out and kill something, some sort of retribution for the hurt the  
Hellmouth put everyone around her through.  
  
Oz jumped down from the fence, then reached up to swing Willow down. She  
nestled against him, and he draped his arm comfortingly around her shoulders.  
Then again, would they have even met, if it wasn't for the Hellmouth. Or  
Xander and Cordy. The Hellmouth Romance Service, brought to you by Vampires  
Are Us and Dating Demons.  
  
She really had to get more sleep.  
  
Willow gave a little wave at Buffy, Oz gave a little salute, their gestures  
almost matching in their body language and cuteness, then they walked away,  
their heads close together as they murmured in that language that they shared  
and only they could understand. Buffy blew her breath out in a sad sigh, then  
hopped off the fence and walked in the other direction, dragging the stake  
against the fence just to hear the sound of it crattering against the  
concrete.  
  
"Here vampies, vampies, vampies," she called out softly. "Any demons around?  
Nasty icky things just waiting to be slayed?"  
  
Nothing jumped out at her. "Just like those monsters," she grumbled. "Never  
around when you want them." She let out another long sigh and reluctantly  
turned towards home.  
  



	2. Default Chapter Title

  
C-2  
  
Buffy hit the punching bag, kciked at it, then swung round and got it with the  
other foot, too, just for good measure. She fell into a rhythm with the music  
blaring from her walkman, a punch or a kick for each beat. Like a dance, she  
thought smoothly, then the cord from her headphone snagged on her fist and she  
accidently yanked the headphones off, snaring her ear as they went. "Ow,  
dammit." She stopped for a moment to catch her breath, then plopped down on  
the floor to untangle the cord. "There's gotta be a better way around this."  
She used to just play her music on a small boombox Giles let her keep in his  
office, but music had been suddenly banned from the library by the principal.  
Unless it was music of "worth and value". Which meant it was boring to work  
out to.  
  
The was a soft step behind her, and she rolled forward instinctively, lashing  
one foot up to break the staff that had come out of no where at her. As a  
quick followup, she threw the walkman at the face of her attacker. He blocked  
it with the staff, and the small player shattered, raining metal and plastic  
pieces throughout the library.  
  
"You threw your stereo at me?" Giles said in disbelief, lowering his staff.  
  
"One that cost several allowances," Buffy wailed in dismay. "Do you think it  
can be fixed?" She gazed at the parts scattered around them. "Guess not,  
huh?"  
  
"Of all the moves and attacks you could have made, you threw a radio at me?"  
  
"Get over it, Giles," she said, rescuing the headphones, which were the only  
part still intact. "Pretend it was a stake."  
  
"A radio won't kill a vampire," he said disapprovingly.  
  
"No, but it did stop you for a moment, didn't it?" she grinned.  
  
"Well, I rather guess it did, at that." The librarian tossed his staff at  
her, and Buffy caught it easily. He picked up another one that had been  
resting against the wall near him. "Since you think you're in such good form  
today, why don't you practice with these?"  
  
She cocked her fist on one hip saucially. "C'mon Giles, this body's always in  
good form. A lean sexy Slayer bod."  
  
He smoothly swung his staff around, and she ducked it just as easily. She  
brought her own staff up and blocked his before he could finish his carry-  
through and bring it back for another strike. In the same move, she swept her  
leg at his feet, and he leapt out of the way before she could trip him. He  
rolled his staff away from hers in some movement she had never quite been able  
to figure out, and she swung away from it, snapping her staff up towards his  
face. He was ready for it, deflecting it, and swiping her staff down with his  
on top, forcing it to the floor, and stepping on it sharply with his foot.  
She snatched her fingers away before they could get squished between staff and  
floor.  
  
She backed away from him, bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet. He  
flashed his staff around lightly in some show-off move, before sweeping  
forward again. She clapped her hands on either side of his staff when it came  
down, bringing it to a stop in front of her face, then twisted it out of his  
grasp in another of those moves that he body just seemed to know and do  
without her even thinking about it. In a flash, she had reversed it and  
rammed it at his stomach, pulling the strike at the last second so it pumphed  
lightly against the protective padding he wore. "One vampire, staked," she  
said pertly.  
  
Giles was a good fighter. But she was the Slayer.  
  
Giles wrenched the staff away from her and grinned at her over it, the  
librarian gone from his eyes. They both enjoyed sparring together. He  
stepped back, then, and shook his head. "A good move, yes. But you still  
aren't quite getting the technique."  
  
"If you were a vamp, you'd be poofed," she protested.  
  
"Yes, perhaps, but your technique isn't proper."  
  
She shook her head, her ponytail bobbing. "Technique isn't everything Giles.  
It can't be. A lot of times, you just have to rely on what you can do, not on  
whether you can remember the right moves to block a certain attack. Ya just  
gotta go with it."  
  
Her Watcher frowned. "The instinct comes with the technique, Buffy. Let's  
work on it again."  
  
Buffy blew her hair from her face and rolled her eyes expressively, but fell  
back to a defensive pose. The rest of the session was spent in shorter spars,  
as Giles made her work movements over and over, until they came to her as  
easily as breathing. They both enjoyed the longer spars, when they fought  
from first attack to hypothetical first death, when all the practice and work  
fit together. But it was the practice and repetition that had saved Buffy's  
life in many a fight, and she knew it as well as he did. The protesting was  
as much a part of their sparring as the actual work was.  
  
They fell into the session entirely, not paying attention to the time, and  
they both jumped, when there was clapping from the doorway after Buffy had  
made a particularly nice spin, twirling her staff in a move she had picked up  
more from baton twirling than from staff fighting. Without quite realizing  
it, they both drew up in defensive poses, not quite matching, but not very  
dissimilar, either.  
  
Sarah was sitting cross-legged on the circulation desk, watching in  
fascination. Buffy guiltily glanced at the clock; their session had gone over  
by half an hour. Giles tried to gather the librarian back around him. He  
always did it so well, even with practice armor and his hair falling in front  
of his eyes. He picked up his glasses from the desk and put them on, and the  
Watcher disappeared behind them. Not entirely, never entirely, but muted  
safely. "I'm sorry. I don't believe either of us noted the time."  
  
Sarah gave an impatient shrug. "Oh, don't worry about that. That's not  
important. What you were doing was. You two are really good. I knew you  
were studying martial arts, Buffy, but I didn't realize to what extent."  
  
She did not comment on why Buffy was working out with the high school  
librarian, but she had obviously noticed, Buffy realized. She waited for the  
obvious question, hoping Giles had something prepared, but the question was  
simply never asked. Buffy murmured something about a quick shower in the  
locker room and escaped, leaving Giles to handle it.  
  
She bounced back in a little later, her hair still sending dripletts of water  
around her with each motion. Giles had retreated to his office, so she had no  
idea what conversation had happened. I won't be able to drag it out of him  
until tomorrow, she thought a little reluctantly. If he even remembers by  
then. She didn't see Sarah at first, and called out. She heard foot steps  
from the second level of the library, then the woman appeared at the end of  
one of the rows of books. She leaned over the railing and looked around  
appreciatively. "This is quite some library," she said, almost fondly. No,  
appreciatingly, Buffy decided. "Not too many high schools have a library like  
this." She began to make her way slowly down the stairs, almost reluctantly.  
"My high school library was the size of a small room, only about an eighth of  
the size of this. I had to do most of my research in a public library." She  
smiled, shaking her head in memory. "Actually, it wasn't much bigger, either,  
but at least it was better."  
  
"Um, thanks," Buffy said uncomfortably. Every so often, she almost forgot the  
primary reason for a library wasn't for work-out sessions and Slayer-related  
stuff. Hardly anyone in the school even knew what a library was, either; she  
was in good company.  
  
Sarah ran her hands lovingly over the spines of books as she came past the  
last row of shelves. She smiled again at them, then finally pulled her  
attention back to Buffy. "By the way, your attack technique is good, but you  
left yourself wide open in that last set of movements."  
  
Buffy gaped at her for a moment. "I did not," she sputtered.  
  
"Sure you did," Sarah said, unperturbed. "Anyone slightly quicker than your  
Mr. Giles could have come right through that opening." She grinned.  
"Fortunately, I don't believe they come much faster than you or he, do they?"  
  
Buffy picked up her knapsack and swung it on her shoulder. "What do you know  
about this stuff?" she asked cautiously, pretending she was more interested in  
zipping up her jacket.  
  
"Oh, a little." She jammed her hands in her jacket pockets. "I was never the  
natural at it that you are, though. You want food, mall, or movies?"  
  
"Food," Buffy decided, hoping it would be the shorter of the three choices.  
At the least, she wouldn't have to worry about supper before the night's  
patrol. She leaned into Giles' office to say goodbye. He hardly even  
noticed, he was so buried in a book, huge, leatherbound, and covered with  
dust. Buffy smiled fondly at him, since he wouldn't notice, and backed out of  
the door.  
  
*  
  
"Nice car!" Buffy ran her hand down the fender of the black TransAm. "You  
really don't meet the image of the well-meaning volunteer. They would  
probably drive something like a station wagon, or something as boring."  
  
Sarah keyed the lock open on the drivers door, then popped the lock on the  
other door. Buffy slid into the seat and tossed her knapsack thoughtlessly  
into the back seat. She had to grin at the thought of all the times she had  
been stuck in Giles' clattertrap on wheels. Sometimes stuck literally, as  
they waited for Triple A.  
  
Sarah chuckled, and started the car. It ran with a soft purr, and she patted  
the dashboard with about as much affection as she had the books earlier. "I  
rather inherited it," she admitted. "The person who bought it, though, had  
very good taste, didn't he? Do you have a license?"  
  
"No," Buffy squirmed. It was a bad topic for her. "Just a permit."  
  
"Can you handle a standard?"  
  
"Kind of."  
  
"Slide over." Sarah got out and came over to the other side. Buffy quicly  
rolled down the window. "You're kidding, right?"  
  
Sarah shrugged. "You need practise, don't you? Only way to get it is drive."  
  
"You don't really want me to do this, do you?" Buffy felt obligated to  
protest.  
  
"Would you just scoot over?" Sarah asked in mock exasperation, and Buffy  
grinned and plopped over into the drivers seat.  
  
"I did warn you," she said one more time, then slowly backed out of the  
parking spot and eased the car out of the lot.  
  
"I've taught worse people to drive than you," Sarah reassured. "Just try to  
chose quiet streets, huh?"  
  
And actually, it wasn't as bad. After all, without cursed people wandering in  
the way. or other Hellmouth distractions, or her mother squeaking and  
screaming at her, driving wasn't too bad. She didn't hit anything, although  
the car did scrunch a couple of times in protest at her gear shiftings. She  
noticed Sarah trying not to wince, and once she patted the dashboard again, as  
if she was reassuring the car this time. She pulled in front of the Chinese  
place they had decided on, and managed to park without bumping the parking  
guard too hard. She glanced apprehensively at Sarah, who simply grinned.  
"You could have done a lot worse," she said and held her hand out for the  
keys.  
  
Buffy grinned. "Does that mean you'll let me drive it again?"  
  
"We'll have to see on that one," Sarah said with amusement. "C'mon. I'm  
starved."  
  
*  
  
"And she let me drive her really neat sports car!" Buffy said.  
  
"At least it's better than Xander begging his parent's station wagon."  
Cordelia sniffed and pawed through her purse, looking for her cosmetic case.  
  
"I didn't hear you complaining about it when your fancy-shmancy car broke  
down," Xander protested automatically. Truthfully, he wasn't too crazy about  
the station wagon either, and found himself wondering why most of the girls in  
his life got to drive neat cars. Girls didn't even like cars. It wasn't as  
important to them as it was to guys.  
  
"That's because I wouldn't let you take me to anywhere anyone we might know  
might see me." She found her powder case and snapped it open, angling the  
mirror at a street light. "Honestly, Buffy, do you think your little monsters  
might have the consideration to come out early tonight? These late nights  
will make my eyes puffy."  
  
"I'll talk to them, Cordelia," Buffy said in the usual flat tone she used in  
responding to Cordelia's more-selfish-than-usual outbursts.  
  
"Well, in that case, can I go home? I mean, you really don't need me out  
here, do you?"  
  
"No, Cordy," Buffy sighed. "I can handle this, just Xander and me."  
  
"Wait a minute," the brunette protested. "Xander's walking me home, aren't  
you. Xander?"  
  
Xander got a I-am? expression, but didn't get much of an answer out before  
Cordelia rushed on with, "I mean, you don't expect me to walk through  
Hellmouth City alone after dark, do you?"  
  
Xander gave Buffy a sheepish look, and she waved him on.  
  
"I don't know what you're worried about, Cordy," she heard Xander say as they  
walked off. "All a vampire has to do is listen to you talk for more than  
thirty seconds and he'd lose his appetite."  
  
"Really smart come-back, Xander. How many books do you read to attain such  
wit? Oh, but that's right, you think books are used for doorstops, don't  
you?"  
  
Buffy smiled in rueful amusement as the bickering continued. She couldn't  
hear the actual words any longer, but she could hear the tone from at least a  
block away. She honestly didn't understand why those two were a couple, but  
they were... the true essence of opposites attract. They were so different  
from Willow and Oz's adorable alike-ness, or from her and Angel's... well, she  
didn't really know what to call what she and Angel had, and it hurt too much  
to think of it, so she pushed the thought roughly aside. But that didn't help  
the feeling that she was alone more and more, even in the circle of close  
friends she had, the Scooby Gang. She sometimes found herself wishing that  
there was someone else in the group who wasn't involved with someone, just so  
she didn't feel left out so much of the time.  
  
She turned down an alley, not too far from the Bronze. Vampires seemed to be  
drawn to the youth club, which, as she thought about it, wasn't too much of a  
surprise. The younger, the sweeter the blood, one vampire told her right  
before he became a pile of ashes. And the loud music from the Bronze was a  
good cover for any struggles. Sunnydale was known for it's high disappearance  
rate of teens. Of adults and children, too, for that matter. It was all part  
of what Xander called The Sunnydale Denial. No one seemed to admit that the  
problem existed. Strange occurances were common here, and everyone seemed to  
turn a blind eye and deaf ear to it.  
  
But that was what Buffy was here for. She might not have a life, and had  
rotten luck in relationships, but, hey, what did that matter when you were the  
Chosen One? She chuckled sarcastically under her breath, then shoved that  
thought away too, before she got even more depressed.  
  
It's just that she was so lonely. No, maybe it wasn't even that. She just  
felt so alone. She was forced to stand by and watch the rest of the world go  
by, her friends even succeed in a normal life--even in Sunnydale-- and all she  
could do was watch them drift away, while she stayed defending the world  
against the Hellmouth.  
  
They had all very carefully not talked about what would happen after  
graduation, and she had just as carefully refused to think about it.  
  
You're feeling sorry for yourself, she scolded. The next thought on the tale  
of that one, was the usual she scolded. The next thought on the tale of that  
one, was the usual Yeah, but don't you deserve to feel sorry for yourself,  
after all that's happened?  
  
And nothing looked like it was going to get any better any time soon. She'd  
just continue to fight icky things until something killed her.  
  
That was being the Slayer. The Chosen One.  
  
Something rustled behind a dumpster just up ahead. Now, a normal person, in a  
normal place, might think it was just rats. Maybe a wino. Maybe a mugger.  
  
But she wasn't a normal person, and this was Sunnydale.  
  
Buffy silently slipped the stake out from the inner pocket of her jacket and  
waited a moment. The rustling stopped, and she watched the dumpster intently.  
She was glad the streetlight behind her at least partially lit the alley. It  
was a good trick, actually. If you were an evil sneaky thing, don't hide in  
complete darkness. Instead, hide in half-light, which held a semblence of  
safety. After a long moment, she took a few slow steps forward. Maybe it was  
just waiting for its victim to come closer.  
  
There was a crash and tinkling of glass behind her. She whirled and the  
streetlight went out in a shower of sparks. that blinded her in the sudden  
fireball of light. The alley flashed into complete darkness. Her vision  
couldn't adjust fast enough, and she quickly closed her eyes, limiting the  
confusion of half-blindness, and let her ears be her sight for a moment.  
  
Steps sounded from all around her; boot heels, the squeak of sneakers, the  
clip of something high heeled. She spun and lashed out at the closest one.  
It hissed at her, and she ducked, just in time to feel the breeze of its claws  
pass by her face. She came up from the duck in a smooth, round movement and  
buried the stake in its chest. It grunted, then she stumbled in forward  
motion when it exploded into ashes. The sneakers came up on the other side,  
and she whirled around. She tripped over something in the alley, and the  
vampire missed in its own attack as she fell. She caught herself and  
cartwheeled past the vampire, snapping another one under the chin with the  
heel of her boot as she flew by. In that split second of time, she opened her  
eyes, but her sight hadn't adjusted yet. It flashed in spots from the  
exploding street lamp, like in reaction to a flashbulb, and she closed her  
eyes tightly again. Her feet landed, and she bounced back up, her hands  
curling into fists. She had lost the stake, and she fumbled at the small vial  
clipped to her belt. High Heels shifted next to her, and she flicked the seal  
off of the vial with her thumbnail and slooshed the liquid towards the sound.  
The vampire screeched, high pitched and terrible, as the holy water drilled  
into its skin. Buffy's skin crawled at the scream, but she had also heard the  
screaming of victims, and there was no doubt in her mind which was worse.  
High Heels clicked away at a running pace, with the sound of gasping sobs  
fading away with it. Sneakers stepped forward;she heard its foot step in a  
puddle of water. All the better; the vampire was even easier to track with  
the sound of wet rubber. Her hand flashed up, and the heel of the palm of her  
hand found a chin. From the sound of the reaction, she gathered it was the  
same chin she had kicked earlier. She took a second to open her eyes again.  
The flashing was gone, and her nightvision was settling; she could at least  
see dim shapes, if not details.  
  
Well, what shapes she could see, she could also kill. More confidently, she  
stepped forward. Boots met her partway. She blocked its punch, then landed  
one in its stomach. Its breath smelled of fresh blood; it had fed not too  
long ago. She hadn't come soon enough. She snarled and flew forward in a  
series of kicks and punches, but it was strong from the recent kill, and  
somehow it moved just a little quicker than she could see with her half-sight,  
and it caught her and slammed her against the ground hard, knocking the breath  
out of her. She rolled out of the way, as its foot smashed into the ground  
where her head had landed, but she couldn't catch her breath fast enough to  
find her feet.  
  
Someone flashed into the alley and caught the vampire from behind, lifting it  
off its feet and crashing it into the wall. Buffy caught the impression of  
black clothes, but didn't take the time to look further. Never look a gift  
distraction in the mouth. Her hand touched something on the ground, and came  
up with her stake. In one movement, she rolled to her feet, used the momentum  
to keep going, staked the vampire before he even slipped down from the wall.  
There was a shriek from behind her. She whirled, but it was the vampire  
screaming, not the other fighter. The fighter was holding the vampire up  
against the other wall, one hand around its thoat, squeezing. The vampire  
choked, trying to kick its attacker away, but the person was rooted to the  
ground, and leaned forward, its hand crushing through the vampire's throat.  
  
Buffy didn't think vampires could be killed that way, but the vampire didn't  
seem to know that. It was in a frantic panic, clawing at the fighter. She  
heard a low chuckling coming from the fighter, and she ran forward, Never give  
them time, kill them quickly, doesn't he know that?, and brought her stake up  
under the fighter's arm. It was a terribly awkward angle, but the stake went  
into the vampire like it was made of butter, and the fighter stumbled forward  
slightly as it leaned into ashes where the solidity of the vampire had been.  
  
Buffy leaned against the wall for a moment, catching her breath. "Um...  
thanks...." How am I going to explain this one?  
  
The other person moved a step away from the wall and shook its head. Dark red  
hair spilled out wildly, escaping from whatever had held it back, and green  
eyes flashed.  
  
"I told you that move left you wide open," Sarah said, her voice filled with  
amusement.  
  



	3. Default Chapter Title

Home Is Where You Hang Your Crossbow  
  
Chapter Three  
  
by Kamara  
  
stealthbunny@msn.com  
  
  
  
"So lemme guess -- you aren't really a Big Sister, are you?" Buffy asked intelligently.   
  
They were back at the library -- the usual retreat when things wigged out.   
  
"Actually," Sarah said, sitting on top of one of the study tables, trying to do something to tie back her hair, "I am registered with them. One of our computer geeks pushed buttons and, voila, I'm a Big Sister." She gave up on the hair and let it spill back down around her face. "Next question: did I get assigned to you by the luck of the draw? No. That was a bunch of button pushing, too."  
  
"Don't let Willow hear you use the words 'computer geek'," Buffy said automatically. "But why me?"  
  
Sarah spread her hands out in front of her as if the answer should be obvious. "Because you're the Slayer."  
  
Dead silence in the library. Buffy and Giles looked at each other with the same now what? expression. Sarah glanced from one to the other. "C'mon people, it's not exactly the world's best kept secret. People around the world know about Watchers and Slayers. Simply the number of the ones in training keep it from being completely hush-hush." She smiled. "It's just not public knowledge."  
  
"Then how do you know about it?" Giles asked, disapprovingly.  
  
Sarah shrugged. "Not everything on the Internet is public knowledge. You just have to dig deeply enough. So I'm told, anyway. I know just enough about computers to get my files eaten. We heard about the Slayer, and the Hellmouth, and we decided to send a scouting mission." Her smile sharpened into a grin. "Me."  
  
Giles took off his glasses and ran his hand through his hair. "And who's 'we'?"  
  
Sarah looked at him, then again at Buffy. "Are you really that isolated here?" she asked in amazement. "You don't really think your Scooby Gang is the only group fighting these things, do you?"  
  
"Yes. I mean, well... no, of course not." Giles glared at the nearest computer, as if he could unload all the blame on it.   
  
"You fight vampires?" Buffy asked. "Well, actually, of course you do, stupid question, I saw you tonight."  
  
Sarah studied her fingernails, then abruptly shoved both her hands deep into her jacket pockets. "Actually, I had heard about vampires, but I had never seen one before tonight. No..." and she suddenly smirked, sat up straighter, and went on in a mockingly impressive voice. "I am the representative of a gathering, an army if you will, against the Growing Number of Demons." Her posture relaxed again. "But we'll take on anything generally evil, nasty, and other-worldly."  
  
"You seem to be taking this with a great amount of humor," Giles said, with more than a little disgruntlement.  
  
Sarah's face darkened. "Oh, no," she said softly. "Never think that."  
  
And it was that expression that convinced Buffy. She saw it in the mirror too often. It spoke of pain, darkness, and grief... and horror at seeing sights and creatures and of doing things that no one should ever have to see or go through. Only someone familiar with that horror could ever look that haunted.  
  
Only someone like herself.  
  
Giles recognized it too. He crossed his arms, trying to gain some control back. "And why haven't we heard of you? After all, we aren't unfamiliar with computers and that net thing --" Buffy choked down a laugh and had a straight face by the time he focused his glare on her. "Why haven't we come across you in any of our research?"  
  
"You may have and just didn't realize it." Sarah gestured helplessly at the computer. "I don't even try to understand it, but most of our communications resemble a role-play chat room. If anyone stumbles on it -- which, by the way, is not easy to do -- it just looks like a bunch of pretend stuff. The e-mail communications are all coded and encrypted. We're also fairly new. There has always been a Slayer, through all time. Our troops have only been around a few years. Means there's a lot more data on you, then there'll be on us for many years to come." She waved around the room. "Say the 'Net is as big as this room." She held up her hands about a foot apart. "This is what's out there about the Slayer." She held up her thumb and forefinger about half an inch apart and squinted at them. "And that's us," she said in a tiny voice. She dropped her hand. "Law of 'Net averages says that as hard as it is to find info on the Slayer, it would be almost impossible to find out about us, simply because of our relative new-ness." She gave another half-grin. "Actually, we like it that way, about as much as you like the secrecy around you. We don't exactly advertise."  
  
Giles leaned back against the circulation desk. The scholar and the researcher was winning out against scandalized Watcher, and he was interested in spite of himself. "It makes you wonder how many more are out there, fighting like we are."  
  
Sarah shrugged again. "Well, not quite like you. You have the Hellmouth to deal with. We just kinda get the leftover demons. I think you see some pretty heavy stuff."  
  
And that's why you're here?" Buffy asked.  
  
"More or less. We really weren't too sure what we'd find." She shook her head. "After all, if someone told you a teenage girl was the only thing holding back the tides of evil, ya gotta wonder. Curiosity got the better of us, and here I am." She beamed for a second, buffing her fingernails against the leather of her jacket, then dropped back into seriousness. 'Look, I don't know how much help we can be, but that's what I'm here to find out."  
  
Giles' eyebrows went up. "Wait a minute, you're here to help us?"  
  
Sarah looked confused. "Well, actually, we're not sure yet. I think we're offering. Remember, one girl, tide of darkness? Sounds like a few more fighters might help even the odds a tad. We're not a large organization, but... we make due, I guess you could say."  
  
"No one ever offers to help us," Giles said in amazement. "It's usually the other way around." His face went tired for a moment, then composed back almost immediately, but Sarah and Buffy both saw it and glanced at each other. "So why didn't you just come to us more openly? We've never turned anyone away before. Even when perhaps we should have," he added in a mutter.  
  
Buffy gritted her teeth. She knew he didn't just mean Angel. But if anyone, Giles was the one Angelus had hurt the most. She at least had her feelings for the vampire as an excuse, a softening zone. Giles had not, and sometimes Buffy could sense the pain, raw and searing, and knew he was thinking of Jenny. And that Angelus had killed her.   
  
"So why all the secrecy?" he asked, as if he didn't know what Buffy was thinking. Maybe he didn't. She was getting better at hiding it.  
  
Sarah laughed, her low voice catching. "You ask me about secrecy? How you manage to pull this off is beyond me. There's a whole town here, and they never notice anything?" She waved at Buffy. "You're just kids. Now, don't get me wrong, I've seen younger than you fighting in this war, but we have no families, and you guys are also juggling school and parents?" She gazed at Buffy with admiration. "I honestly don't know how you're doing it."  
  
"Neither do we, sometimes," Giles confessed. "We're a little... unorthodox in our methods."  
  
"And a lot lucky," Buffy added. "We do a lot of making it up as we go along."  
  
"The teenagers have a unique way of looking at things," Giles said thoughtfully. "Sometimes I don't even understand what they are talking about, but they always manage to come through."  
  
"Mister Generation Gap, here," Buffy said in a conspiratorial whisper to Sarah.  
  
"Yes, well, she's not too far off on that," he said ruefully. "But really Miss Cullen, you could have come and just asked us."  
  
"Actually it's Mrs. But please, just Sarah." She shrugged. "It'd take me a moment to recognize anything else." She looked down at her fingers, as they twisted nervously around each other. "There is another reason for the hesitation." She looked at them up from under her mane of hair. "Most of us aren't quite human."  
  
Buffy dismissed that with an airy wave of her hand. "Oh, that's nothing. We're used to that."  
  
Sarah gaped at her. "You are?" She looked quickly at Giles, who was studying his glasses. "Actually, that does seem to happen quite often in our little group," he admitted.  
  
"But you kill things that aren't human."  
  
"Not all the time," Buffy said defensively. "Only things that try to kill us first. Or take over the world. Or destroy the world. We're not too crazy about that either. But we try not to discriminate."  
  
Sarah chewed at the edge of her lower lip thoughtfully. "That... might take awhile for me to get used to..." she said slowly. "We've been careful for so long, because so many things do hunt us."  
  
Buffy hopped off the table. "Well, around here," she said decisively, "we do the hunting. Welcome to the Scooby Gang."  
  
"You will find that, as one of the older members," Giles felt obliged to say, "that things can get a bit strange around here."  
  
"Yeah, but she's used to the monsters and icky stuff," Buffy pointed out.  
  
"I was talking about being around you teenagers," Giles said smoothly.  
  
"Nah, I'm used to that, too," Sarah said, grinning. "Like, you have no idea..."  
  
*  
  
By the next morning, of course, they all knew. They had it down to perfection, spreading word to each of them in the shortest amount of time possible. Buffy had called Willow, who told Oz (as they were usually together). Willow then called Xander, who told Cordelia (as they were usually together, too). That afternoon, they all met in the library, all coming from different directions, frustrated from a day of classes. Even at lunch, they had only been able to steal a few minutes to buzz questions, which only brought up more questions that they didn't have time for. All five of them had rocketed into the library within three minutes after the last bell.  
  
"So, do you believe her?" Willow asked breathlessly.  
  
Buffy tossed her books on the table gleefully. "Right now, I don't care. No more school this week. I love teacher conferences!" She perched on the edge of the table, and cocked her head thoughtfully at Willow. "Actually, yes, I think I do believe her. She has that feeling to her. Y'know, The 'I spend my life fighting things people only have nightmares about'? That feel."  
  
"You mean the I-must-be-crazy-why-am-I-not-hiding-under-my-bed one? Real familiar with it," Xander said. He upended his backpack and shook it. A flurry of snacks poured out. He looked it over thoughtfully, picked out a chocolate bar, then looked at the others. They were all gazing hopefully at him, and he gave under the puppy-dog-eyes faces. "All right, help yourself. Just remember this when we're out slaying tonight and I collapse from weakness. A hungry Xander is not a pleasant one."  
  
"Just when you're hungry?" Cordelia poked through the pile. "Either you're hungry all the time, or you're way off the mark. None of this is low-fat. I can't eat any of this -- I'd blimp out."  
  
"I'll be quite happy to eat your share," Xander assured her.  
  
"Pig. Oh, no, that's right. It was a hyena, wasn't it?" Cordelia shot back.  
  
"Maybe we can talk Oz into giving you a nip, and you can see what's it's like," Xander countered smoothly.  
  
Cordelia rolled her eyes. "As if."  
  
"Hey, don't bring me in on this," Oz said. "Besides, biting someone else's girlfriend, well, that's a little too personal."  
  
"Hey," Willow protested. "Don't you go biting anyone. Else."  
  
They all turned and stared at Willow, who blushed, and ducked behind the computer.  
  
"ANYway," Buffy said, trying to grab ahold of the conversation before it dissolved again. "It still wouldn't hurt to be careful. What can you find out, Willow?"  
  
"Already on it." Willow was typing furiously. "Just give me a few more minutes. Anyone know what her license plate number is? That would be a big help."  
  
Buffy handed her a piece of paper. "Always vigilant."  
  
"Oh, is that what you call it?" Cordelia started, but Buffy gave her a warning glare. "What?" Cordelia asked, oblivious. Buffy closed her eyes and sighed, wondering if this was what Giles felt like most of the time. Whoa, startin' to think like an adult here. Better watch it.  
  
"Got it," Willow said suddenly. She grinned smugly. "I love this sneaky stuff."  
  
"Giles," Buffy called. "Y'wanna hear this, too, or do you just want to catch the reruns at ten?"  
  
"The what?" Giles asked. He came out of his office, and saw a book sitting on the circulation desk. "Someone actually brought something back?"  
  
"Which means they actually had to check something out." Xander nodded wisely. "I'm impressed."  
  
"Well, it is a library," Cordelia said absently.   
  
They all gazed at her patiently. "What?" she asked.  
  
Buffy took a deep breath and shook her head. "What'd you find, Willow?" she asked brightly.  
  
"Hmm..." Willow scanned down a few screens. "Nothing looks too out of place. She went to a university in New York. Music major... no, wait. Changed to history. She had was in grad school, but never finished. She dropped out of sight for about a year. Ooh, that's so sad. She was married, but a couple of days later, he was killed."  
  
"Does it say how?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Ummm... nope. Not much of an obit." She tapped out a few keys and clicked the mouse a couple of times. "No autopsy report, either. Let's see... she dropped out of sight again. Became kind of a recluse. Lots of people listed at that address though, but it doesn't look like she was ever much out in public. Until about two years ago, and even then it was pretty low-key. Looks like she was traveling across county. Couple of speeding tickets, one in Montana, one in Arizona. Her car registration and insurance is still at the address in New York, though."  
  
"Hmm. Doesn't seem to prove her story very well, does it?" Giles moved to stand behind Willow, reading over her shoulder. "Still, that can be a rather helpful little machine, isn't it?"  
  
"Sometimes," Willow said blandly, but her eyes glinted at Buffy.  
  
Oz sat on the table next to the computer, beaming at her. "You're so cute when you're being computer literate."  
  
"Oh. Thank you." Willow glowed. "You know, you're cute, too, when you--" She realized everyone in the room was looking at her, and she blushed again. "Um... anyway, that looks like about it."  
  
"It doesn't really not prove she's telling the truth, either," Buffy pointed out.   
  
"Yeah, like people really lie a lot about fighting monsters," Xander said. "Usually they're too busy trying to hide that they ARE fighting monsters."  
  
"Well, yes, that's true, actually," Giles agreed. "After all, she came to us. It isn't like we stumbled across her, well, doing --"  
  
"--trying to destroy the world," Xander finished.  
  
"Yeah, but what about the husband dying?" Cordelia said. "That sounds rather suspicious, doesn't it? I mean, she doesn't even wear a ring. And how'd he die?"  
  
"Violently," Sarah said from the doorway, and they all jumped guiltily. "Not that unusual when you're fighting icky monsters, now, is it? Anything else you want to know about me?" She came the rest of the way in, put a bag on the table, and leaned over to look at the computer screen. "Did you think you would find a profile listing demon-killer under occupations? If we are half as good as I said, don't you think the public cover would be pretty decent?"  
  
"Well..." Willow started. "After all, you can't be too careful, um.. I mean, you might have been a serial killer or something, and since we're kids, we really shouldn't be around that stuff... not that being around demons and vampires are any better... I mean..."  
  
"You want to be saved on this one, Will?" Xander asked.  
  
"Yes, please," Willow said faintly.  
  
Xander pointed. "What's in the bag? I can't help but notice the big Toys R Us. And since I'm trying to bail Willow, here, I think that is as good a distraction as any."  
  
Sarah patted Willow's shoulder. "Actually, I would have done the same thing in your place. Except that I wouldn't, because I don't understand all this computer stuff." She picked up the bag and began picking at the knot tying it shut. "I kinda got to thinking last night. Fighting vampires is a little out of my area of expertise, but I had an idea. Holy water, works, right?"   
"Well, er, yes, rather well, actually," Giles affirmed.  
  
"Ever see the movie The Lost Boys?" Sarah asked.  
  
The teens looked at her blankly.   
  
"Oh, come on. It can't be that old, can it?" Sarah thought for a moment. "Oh, God, I'm old."  
  
Giles snorted under his breath.   
  
"Anyway," Sarah said quickly, "Buffy says she uses holy water in little vials, but she doesn't get much range with those, right? Well, I remembered a cute bit from this movie, and --" She finally just tore the plastic bag open and dumped several Super Soaker water rifles onto the table. "Range weapons, and a lot easier to replace than crossbows."  
  
"Cool!" Xander and Oz made a grab for two of them and ran out.  
  
"Oh, dear," Giles murmured. "Still, I supposed it isn't too bad an idea. It could rather keep you out of arms reach, as it were."  
  
"Giles," Buffy said lightly, wrestling one of the guns off of the cardboard backing, "it's a great idea."  
  
Xander dove into the room, rolled, and came up behind the card catalog file case. He flashed up and shot a spurt of water at Oz, who ducked back out in the hall.  
  
"If Principal Snyder sees those," Giles warned.   
  
Willow ran to the window. "Nope! His car's gone."  
  
"Running target," Xander crowed and nailed Willow from across the room. She wailed.  
  
"Hey, wait a minute," Oz protested. "She's unarmed."  
  
"Not for long!" Willow grabbed the gun from Buffy and ran from the library. Buffy followed her with another one. By that time, Xander was up on the second floor, picking pot shots off at Oz, who was diving from behind one piece of furniture after another.   
  
"Just remember there are books here..." Giles said, in a tone that sounded like he was sure they wouldn't listen to him anyway.   
  
Buffy ran into the room, firing water randomly everywhere. Xander ducked behind the banister, while Oz tipped a table on its side for cover.  
  
"Expensive books," Giles said faintly, having lost complete control of the situation.  
  
Willow commando-crept through the room while the boys were intent on shooting down Buffy, who was darting through the room, avoiding every water burst with an acrobat here and a flip there. Willow hid behind another table, and, with a perfect shot, got Xander on the back of the head.  
  
"Honestly, you people are so immature," Cordelia exclaimed. A stream of water drenched her.  
  
"Ooops, sorry Cordy," Buffy sang.  
  
"Oh, you think you're smart?" Cordelia challenged. She grabbed the last gun and ran for water.  
  
Xander had run down the stair, escaping Willow's barrage. Ignoring the odds, he leapt on top of a table and began shooting indiscriminately. Willow had snuck around and up the stairs and was laying on the floor, shooting sniper bursts from between the railings with deadly accuracy.   
  
'Impossible to replace books." Giles gave up.  
  
Cordelia popped through the doors and gleefully shot Xander down. He yelped. "What is this,   
Gang Up On Xander Night?"  
  
"Who started this?" Willow called evilly.  
  
"You do know what you've done, haven't you?" Giles asked Sarah, who was enjoying the show immensely.  
  
"Sure. I gave them a bit of an edge."  
  
"That wasn't quite what I meant," Giles said wistfully.   
  
Five shots of water hit him simultaneously.   
"That was," he sighed, and went to find a towel.  
  
They finally called a truce when they all ran out of water, and clattered the guns back in a dripping pile on the plastic bag. "What are these?" Willow asked, picking up several small packages. "Oh, cool! Water balloons."  
  
"Oh, no," Sarah said quickly. "Hand grenades." She grinned smugly. "That's my own idea."  
  
"We must get our terminology correct," Xander agreed. He opened one of the bags and held up a water balloon. "But I'm afraid your water war techniques lack a little training. Have you ever tried carrying an armload of these? They aren't exactly durable. We could try carrying them in a knapsack, but I can guarantee you, from many years experience, that we'd reach into the backpack, to triumphantly drive off a vampire, and come up with a scrap of rubber and a very wet knapsack."  
  
"Well, that's where the idea still needs some work," Sarah admitted. "I still haven't figured out how to fill the balloons beforehand and keep them from popping."  
  
"Oooh, oooh, I have an idea!" Willow pawed through her book bag and came up with a water bottle. She snatched the balloon away from Xander, carefully fastened it around the mouth of the bottle, and turned it upside down. The water gurgled into the balloon. She grinned at them. "Water bottles are easy to carry, and they don't pop."  
  
"Willow, you're brilliant," Sarah said. Willow beamed. Oz beamed at Willow.  
  
Xander carefully took the balloon from her and tied it closed. "Cool. Now we can wait up in trees at the cemetery and lob balloon at them."  
  
Giles walked into the library again and looked at Xander holding the water balloon. "Now, wait a minute, Xander, I really must protest at this--"  
  
Cordelia came up next to Xander and suddenly grabbed the balloon away and smacked him in the face with it. "So there," she said, with apparently no explanation.  
  
And apparently one was not needed. Xander went for more balloons, but Sarah had already snatched them away and handed them to Giles. "Perhaps you should put these someplace safe," she said.  
  
"Yes, I think perhaps I should." Giles took them gingerly and went to put them with the rest of the weapons. Willow gathered the guns and followed him.  
  
Cordelia gazed around the slightly damp library. "Well, at least we got some practice in, which is more than I can say for our usual battles."  
  
"How's your supply of holy water, Giles?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Actually, I was planning on going to the City tomorrow to pick up some more, and some other items I need." The librarian came back out of the cage, ushering Willow in front of him. He locked the cage shut after them. "Willow what time do you want to leave?"  
  
"Late morning?" Willow asked. She grinned smugly at Buffy. "I'm going witch shopping."  
  
"You're buying witches?" Xander asked. "Don't we have enough problems?"  
  
"No, silly." She smiled affectionately. "I need to get some supplies. You know, for basic spells."  
  
Xander looked at Giles in concern. "I thought you didn't approve of her messing around with this stuff."  
  
"I don't," Giles said, slightly offended. "I told her not to play around. It's too dangerous. But when have any of you ever listened to me?"  
  
"He's got you, there," Buffy admitted.  
  
"I would far rather that Willow have some supervision and training in these arts, than have her experimenting on her own." Giles frowned at her. "Because you would experiment, wouldn't you?"  
  
"Oh, of course," she agreed cheerfully.  
  
Sarah looked a little confused. "Okay, I'm lost."  
  
"I'm a witch," Willow said proudly, then wilted under Giles' stern eye. "Well, a novice witch. Kind of. In a training sort of way."  
  
"Technopagen?" Sarah asked. Willow nodded happily. "Are you going anywhere where there might be herbs? The unusual kind?"  
  
"Most certainly," Giles said. "Do you have magical training?"  
  
Sarah shook her head. "No, I don't have the aptitude for it. I leave that for the experts. But I mix my own tea, and it takes some of the harder to find herbs." She gestured rather aimlessly. "I damaged my vocal chords a long time ago. The tea helps. If I can tag along, I'll drive."  
  
'Oh, we can take my car," Giles assured her.  
  
Buffy leaned forward. "Take my advice, Sarah. Take your car," she said in a conspiratorial tone.  
  
"Buffy, for the last time, I really wish you would stop making fun of my car."  
  
"Wait a minute!" Cordelia broke in. "You're going to the City. Shopping?"  
  
Willow and Buffy looked at each other skeptically. "You want to come."  
  
"What do you think?" Cordelia shook her head. "I mean, not with you guys, in some dark, dank store where they sell animal body parts and crystal balls. We can separate and meet later."  
  
"Animal body parts?" Willow asked, looking at Giles in dismay.  
  
"Well, not actually out on display, but..."  
  
"Never mind," she said quickly. "I'm not ready to know that yet. Buffy, you want to come?"  
  
Buffy shrugged. "Sure. I'm in. It's either that, or I stay home, avoiding another one of Mom's can't-you-resign lectures."  
  
"Then we've outnumbered my car," Sarah said. "Mine doesn't have much of a back seat."  
  
"Oh, please. We'll take mine," Cordelia said.  
  
Buffy looked at her in surprise. "Cordelia... that's actually thoughtful. Are you feeling okay?"   
Cordelia looked down at her. "Give me a break, Buffy. I won't be seen dead in Giles' wreck, and I'm not going to ride squished in the back seat, with my clothes getting wrinkled. So that's settled. We'll meet here at ten. It'll be fun," she said in a brightly false way. "Girls' Day Out. Except for you, Giles, of course."  
  
"It's so nice for you to remember me, Cordelia," Giles in a smooth tone that belied the glare.   
  
"Well, of course," she said. "Someone has to carry the packages. What? Why do you keep giving me those looks?"  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	4. Default Chapter Title

HOME IS WHERE YOU HANG YOUR CROSSBOW  
Chapter Four  
By Kamara  
stealthbunny@msn.com  
  
"I don't know whatever possessed me to do this." Giles gazed gloomily at Cordelia's BMW pulling into the school parking lot.  
  
"C'mon, Giles, it'll be fun," Buffy said cheerfully. "Well, as much fun as anything could be with Cordelia around."  
  
"Yes, but she'll be off shopping at places we can't even begin to afford," Willow pointed out. "So we can still have fun."  
  
"I'm not sure spending the day watching teenage girls shop is my idea of a splendid afternoon," Giles muttered.  
  
"That's because you have no life, Giles. You need to get out of that library more often, and if this is the only way we can do it, we will." Buffy waved at the car and it veered toward them.  
  
"And we'll force ourselves to enjoy every minute, won't we?" Willow chirped.  
  
"Oh, absolutely," Buffy answered. "Look, there's Sarah. Good. I was afraid she'd be late."  
  
"Maybe... maybe I could just meet you there?" Giles took a step towards his car, but Buffy grabbed the back of his coat and steered him towards the BMW. "Not a chance, Giles," she chirped. "You get to spend most of the week lecturing me into training sessions. Turnabout is fair play."  
  
Sarah was walking up the sidewalk. She waved when she saw them and broke into a trot. "Hi," she said when she reached them. "Am I late?"  
  
"No," Willow assured. "Cordy's probably still trying to decide if she's actually going to let us in."  
  
Buffy pounded on the door. "Open up, Cordelia!"  
  
"Oh, dear," Giles murmured.  
  
Sarah caught him by the arm. "Here. I got something for you." She pulled out a discman and handed him a few cds. "Nothing very loud. Celtic stuff, very soothing."  
  
Giles gingerly took them from her. "Er.. Thank you... but I really don't think..."  
  
She leaned closer to him. "You are going to be stuck in a car with three teenage girls. Who will be listening to music. THEIR music. Loudly."  
  
She never saw anyone put on a set of headphones faster. She showed him how to load a cd, pointed out the play button, and he smiled gratefully before Buffy shoved him into the front seat and clambered into the back. Cordelia looked over at him and said something, but he couldn't hear her over the music pouring over the headphones, but he smiled brightly and nodded. She gave him a peculiar look, and he wondered what he had just given permission to. Then he decided he really didn't want to know, and opened the book he had brought with him. For him, at least, the drive was peaceful and uninterrupted.  
  
Apparently it wasn't quite so with the others. By the time Cordelia had parked the car at some mid-way point between the store he wanted to go to and the stores she wanted to go to, Cordelia and Buffy weren't speaking to each other (Giles thought his day might continue in peace after all). Willow's face was frozen in concern. Of the four of them, Sarah was the only one who seemed unconcerned. He carefully pulled off the headphones and gave the set back to her. "You spend much time around teenagers?" he asked.  
  
"Some. Why?"  
  
"You are remarkably unfazed," he said dryly, nodding to the three girls, two ignoring each other, and the other trying desperately to mediate. "Poor Willow," he added thoughtfully. "She always ends up being the peacemaker. And usually fails miserably."  
  
"It will be good practice for her," Sarah said, unconcerned.  
  
"What, failing miserably?" Giles looked at her in surprise.  
  
She chuckled. "No. Diplomacy. But I rather like your look at it."  
  
"Now," Cordelia said, posed with one hand on her hip, obviously taking charge. "You four go do whatever uncool thing it was that you were going to do. I am going shopping. We meet for lunch at two, then we head back home, so we can get back long before nighttime, and I can go to the dance at the Bronze. And if anyone sees us together, I do not know who you are. Got that?"  
  
"Did we have a choice?" Buffy asked icily.  
  
"Well, of course we have a choice," Willow said anxiously. "We could always just go shopping with Cordelia. You know, follow her every movement. Go with her everywhere."  
  
Cordelia gave her a withering look. "Don't you start thinking you're the Queen of Come-backs," she sniffed and walked away.  
  
"There," Willow said happily. "She's gone. Which way is the store, Giles?"  
  
"That was definately cool, Will," Buffy said with satisfaction.  
  
"How did I get stuck with this?" Giles wondered.  
  
"Because you're the Watcher," Buffy said decisively. "It's part of the job."  
  
"I don't recall reading in any of the journals about Watchers taking their Slayer shopping," Giles informed her as they walked down the street. "Unless, perhaps, if it was for weapons."  
  
"You are not taking me shopping," she pointed out. "I am going shopping with you. There's a difference. I am not buying anything. Besides, you could be starting a whole new wonderful tradition, here."  
  
"Lord help us," Giles muttered. Willow and Sarah shot each other mischievious glances. "This way, girls," he said and turned the corner down a little side street. Despite the fact that it was just off a major street, with many stores and businesses, this street seemed quiet and little-traveled. Somehow, that didn't surprise Buffy in the slightest.   
  
About halfway down the block, Giles stopped in front of a small storefront. "Here we are," he announced and went lightly up the steps.   
  
Buffy didn't really know how to categorize the store. It was a sort of blend between a New Age store, with crystals, sparkly jewelry and candles, with a book store, from old-looking volumes behind the counter in a glass case, and new paperback books on various religions, psychologies, and recipies, with a coffee/tea/herbal counter to one side, complete with a couple of small tables with chairs scattered around them. There was even a counter with some of those fantasy card games that had become so popular lately. The store smelled of incense and herbs, with the rich smell of coffee weaving through it, and the faint whift of chocolate chip cookies.  
  
"Rupert!" came a call from the back of the store, and a plump little man came up the crowded aisles. "It's good to see you again."  
  
"Hullo, Thomas," Giles said pleasantly. "These are... um... these are... Buffy, and Willow, and Sarah."  
  
"And you were about to say something else," the man chided, "but I won't push you on it. I never do, do I? And you are Buffy?" She held out her hand hesitantly, and it disappeared in both of his. "I have heard a lot about you, young woman."  
  
"You have?" she asked, shooting a panicked look at Giles.  
  
"It's all right, Buffy," Giles assured her. "Thomas and I have known each other for quite a while."  
  
"And I have a package for you, just like you said there would be," Thomas said. "It was dropped off just yesterday. The holy water, I believe? Anyway, it sloshes. But come, come." He scurried up to the front of the store and put a "Closed for Lunch" sign in the window. "Come have some tea. Miriam has blended your favorite, with a bag for you to take back with you. And we have soda for the young ladies, if they do not prefer tea. You do have time to stay a few minutes, don't you?" he ended plaitatively. "It would be such a relief to have someone to talk to about the real stuff, and not Oujii boards, love spells, and magic wands."  
  
"Magic wands?" Willow asked. "I didn't know there were actually such things."  
  
"Willow is in magical training," Giles said. "We will also need some of the basics packaged up for her."  
  
"Do I get a magic wand?" she asked eagerly.  
  
"Come, come," Thomas urged, and they followed him to the back of the store. He pushed aside a long clowing tapistry-like curtain and opened the door behind it into a larger room. He winked at Willow. "This is where we keep the Real Stuff," he said in a whisper to her.   
  
This room was even more cluttered and filled than the store front. He waved them to a few overstuffed chairs. "Miriam sends her wishes, Rupert. She has treatment today, and couldn't be here, but she made cookies and left tea for everyone." He bustled around a small kitchenette, pouring mugs of water while dodging the large grey cat that batted at his feet,.  
  
"How is Miriam?" Giles asked softly.  
  
Thomas paused in mid-bustle. "As can be expected," he said simply. "I'll be right back." He ran up a set of stairs.  
  
"His wife has cancer," Giles said in a low voice. "Terminal, actually. " He took off his glasses and absently cleaned them with a handkerchief. "Not even the strongest magic can fight that effectively." He put his glasses back on. "Beautiful woman. Very kind. The world will miss her."  
  
Footsteps clattered down the stairs, and Thomas emerged with a tray of cookies and some cans of soda. "Now, just enjoy yourself, while I put together a kit for young Willow here."  
  
"But you should have some cookies too," Willow insisted.   
  
Thomas patted his overlarge stomach. "Trust me, my dear. I already have." He winked at her, and hurried around the room, gathering items and putting them in a large bag. "I have no doubt Rupert will teach you about these, so I won't explain what they are, but they will certainly be a good start for you." He stopped at a long table with large glass jars of herbs, and filled several small plastic bags with various contents.  
  
"Oh, and Sarah has a list of herbs, as well," Giles remembered, starting on his third cookie. He had forgotten what a good cook Miriam was, and the wonderful talent she had with blending teas.   
  
'Oh, my, well, let me take a look." He came over and took the list from Sarah.  
  
"You might not have some of them," she said hesitantly. "But I've made it without the rarer ones before."  
  
"But that must not taste very well," he said, scanning the list. "Those are the ones that hide the medicine taste, aren't they? Your throat, is it?"  
  
She nodded, and he smiled. "Well, don't you worry, now. I have them all in stock, and I'll give you a gracious plenty so you won't run out. And I'll also give you my card. Whenever you run low again, just give me a call. If you can't get in, I'll mail them too you. I know our people are a transient lot."  
  
Sarah went flustered. "Oh, you don't have to go to such trouble --"  
  
"Nonsense," he said quickly. "You're a friend of Rupert's, and of Buffy's, and of young Willow. We help each other out, don't we, Rupert?"  
  
"Indeed," Giles said, still looking fondly at the plate of cookies, before he sighed and took another one.  
  
By the time the plate was empty between the four of them, Thomas had put together a large bundle of bags for Sarah, and gave another larger bag to Willow. She peered into it eagerly. "And, of course," Thomas said with a grin, "a magic wand." He produced it with a flourish, and Willow had to laugh at the plastic stick with irridescent ribbons from one end. "Or fancy cat-toy," he added as the cat streaked over to bat gleefully at the ribbons. "Rupert, your items are up front." He looked regretfully at his watch. "And I am sorry, but I do have to go pick Miriam up. He looked sadly at Rupert. "It was good to see you again. I just wish it was in better times."  
  
"Give my love to Miriam," Giles said gently.  
  
"As she does to you." He looked at the empty plate. "There's also a bag of the cookies in your packages, too." He smiled. "Miriam always did know how much you love them."  
  
He saw them out the door and locked it behind them. He waved at them from the window, then let a curtain fall in front of it. Giles sighed, then forced a smile at Willow. "Come," he said softly. "I think it is about time to meet Cordelia, isn't it?"  
  
*  
  
They couldn't decide on a place for lunch, so after several minutes of Cordelia and Buffy bickering about it, Giles decided for them, and rather loudly, that they would just drive back towards Sunnydale, and if they saw something they all agreed on, they'd stop for lunch. Otherwise, they could all stay hungry until they got back home. He would be fine. He had chocolate chip cookies. Perhaps he might share them with Willow and Sarah. They were being quiet. He was discovering even more and more that he liked quiet. He also noticed that the headphones seemed to be an unspoken order along the lines of leave-me-alone. No other bothered him when they were on. He rather liked that. Perhaps, he mused, he should get one of these for himself.  
  
Al\bout halfway home, he noticed that a lot of frantic talking and hand waving was going on. This was nothing really unusual, and he wouldn't have even taken notice, except that Sarah seemed to be instigating it this time. Cautiously, he lowered the volume on the player.   
  
"Look, we have plenty of time," Sarah was saying. "It's not even three yet."  
  
"I wouldn't be caught dead there," Cordelia shot back.  
  
"Then you don't have to go," Sarah said pleasantly. "Just let me out for a few minutes."  
  
"And what am I supposed to do, wait in the car?"  
  
"You," Sarah said equally as pleasantly, "can do whatever you like, so long as it is pulling this car over and parking."  
  
For a moment, Giles thought that Cordelia was going to refuse, but then she seemed to remember that Sarah was among the adult ratio in the car, and sullenely nodded.  
  
"Where are we going?" Giles asked warily.  
  
"A flea market," Sarah said happily. At Giles' confused look, she asked, "Don't you shop them?"  
  
"Oh, you poor thing," Cordelia gushed, with apparently real sincerity. "I didn't realize."  
  
Sarah turned and looked at her blankly.  
  
"That things were so bad for you," Cordelia said earnestly as she pulled into a parking space. "that you'd have to shop at a flea market."  
  
Sarah closed her eyes. She opened her mouth for a moment to say something, then apparenlty changed her mind. "Give me strength," she muttered.  
  
Giles knew exactly how she felt.  
  
"Anyway," she went on, "One never knows what one might find at flea markets. Once I found a crossbow, really cheap. Another time, I found a recurve bow, which are really hard to find now. And once I found a real sword, not a costume lookalike. Antique stores are another place to look, but they are ferociously expensive. They might need a little more repairing if they're bought from a garage sale or flea market, but I can send them home for someone to take care of." She shooed Buffy out of the car so she could slide out. "But mostly, I look for books."   
  
They walked up to the first stand, and Sarah leaned closer to Giles. "Are most of your reference books old or new?"  
  
"Older, mostly, of course."  
  
Sarah pointed to a box with "Old Books 25 cents" written on one of the flaps. "See? Now the chances of finding something are almost nil, but I'm never in a hurry to get anywhere, so I poke around when I have a chance. Anything that looks vaguely interesting, I buy and send home. I've found some really old books on witchcraft, magic, demonology, you name it. I don't know what's worth keeping or not, but at twenty five cents, who cares?" She sat down on the ground by the book of boxes and shifted through. "Nothing much here. Just Reader's Digests, stuff like that. But one never knows what's at the next stand."  
  
"Awww..." Willow had picked up a big stuffed rabbit. "It's so cute..." Everyone looked at her, and she quickly put it back down.   
  
Cordelia had followed them in spite of herself. "You mean, we're actually going to look for things to BUY here -- oh, look! Jewelry!" She made a bee-line to another stand. Sarah watched her go and shook her head.  
  
"Right. Anyway." She glanced over the table. "I don't see anything else here. Shall we go to the next --"  
  
"Cool!" Buffy cried. She was already two tables down. "Willow, c'mere, quick!" She held a leather jacket up against her, then slipped it on. "It fits! Will, can I borrow some money?"  
  
"You may have created a monster or two," Giles observed thoughtfully.  
  
"Yeah, well, they're all agreeing with each other," Sarah pointed out. "I was getting sick of the arguing anyway. Are they always like that?"  
  
"No," he considered. "Sometimes Xander and Oz join in."  
  
Sarah stopped near another box of books and crouched down on her heels. She let out her breath in a quick laugh and held up a book about love spells and astrology. "Helpful?" she said sarcastically and tossed the book back in the box.   
  
Willow and Buffy walked past going the other way. Buffy was wearing the leather jacket. "Well, if you get the jacket, then I get the bunny," Willow was saying in a determined voice.  
  
Sarah watched them go. "At least two monsters," she agreed.  
  
They came back, Willow clutching the stuffed rabbit triumphantly. Cordelia came back. "You guys, just look at this ring. And if you tell anyone where I got it, I'll deny it. And then kill you."  
  
"Three monsters," Sarah amended.  
  
The flea market aparently closed in half an hour, and some vendors were already starting to pack their wares. Some were merely spreading tarps over tables and tieing them down, while others were loading boxes into the backs of station wagons and vans. It didn't take very long to wander through. "Like I say," Sarah shrugged at the last table, "not much of a chance of actually finding anything worth while." She smiled at Giles. "Sorry to waste your time."  
  
"Not at all." Giles tried to look sincere. "It was very... interesting."  
  
"Hey," Willow suddenly pointed. "Look at that paperweight. My aunt collects paperweights. Do you think I should get it for her?"  
  
Buffy shrugged. "I don't know, Will. I mean, Christmas is coming and all. "  
  
"Here, hold this." Willow shoved the rabbit at Buffy, who took it gingerly. Willow leaned over the table, and picked up a deep blue glass globe that was hidden behind a box of games, a stuffen elephant, and a set of three crystal goblets, one with a crack in it.   
  
The minute she touched it, the globe spilled out a bright globe that lit up her hands. Her eyes went wide and she jumped back in shock. Sarah caught the paperweight before Willow could drop it. The glow instantly died down.  
  
"Did you see that?" Willow shrilled under her breath.  
  
Sarah stared at the globe in her hands as if it was going to rear up and bite her. "Somehow, I don't think it's a paperweight," she said slowly.  
  
"Gilescomelookquick," Willow said all in one breath, waving him over frantically.Hegave her a wary look, having missed the interchange, but walked up to them.   
  
"Look," Willow whispered. She held out a finger and touched the globe. It glowed in reponce to her finger, but stayed dark and cold where it touched Sarah's hand.  
  
"Good Lord," Giles said quickly.  
  
"Do you know what it is?" Willow's eyes were so wide that it looked painful.  
  
Giles touched the globe too, and it warmed to his touch as well. "It senses magic," he said softly. "Sarah you said you didn't have any magic ability?"  
  
"None whatsoever," she said, looking like she would really rather someone else held it.  
  
"Can I help you?" called the boy behind the table.  
  
"Do we take this?" Sarah hissed.  
  
"Most definately."  
  
"Let me handle this, then." She closed her fist around the globe, knocking their hands away. The glow disappeared like she had hit a switch. "Yeah, hey, how much for this paperweight?"  
  
The kid stopped wrapping the set of dishes he was packing and came over. "I don't know. I'm just watching the stand for my gramma. Isn't it marked?"   
  
Sarah held it up and turned it a couple of times. "Nope."  
  
He groaned. "I hate it when she does that. I dunno. What do you think?"  
  
Sarah hesitated. "Well, it's got a chip out of the bottom..."  
  
"It does? Where?" Giles leaned over to look, and Sarah kicked him.   
  
The kid thought a moment. "Most of this stuff came out of some old lady's house a while back. Gramma's been carrying that from sale to sale for over a month now." He shrugged. "Five bucks? Just so I don't have to pack it back up again."  
  
Giles made a spluttering sound. Buffy stepped on his foot quickly. "Sorry," she said brightly. "He doesn't get out much. He's from out of town."  
  
"Out of the country, actually," Cordelia said helpfully.  
  
"God help me," Sarah muttered. She dug a five out of her pocket and handed it over.   
  
The kid dropped it in a cash tray. "Would you like anything else?" he asked hopefully. "Can opener, radio?"  
  
Sarah smiled and waved, then took Giles's. Buffy grabbed his other shoulder, and together they   
steered him back to the car.  
  
"Five dollars?" they heard him hiss. "Bloody thing's priceless!"  
  
"What'd I tell you about flea markets," Sarah hissed back. "Just get in the car and let's get out of here before Gramma comes back."  
  
Giles looked furtively over his shoulder. "Do you think she knows what it is?"  
  
"Would she be selling it if she did?" Buffy asked. She wrenched the car door open and shoved him in. Sarah climbed into the backseat and handed the globe back to him with a sigh of relief. The inside of the car lit up in a dim blue glow. "Here, Buffy," he said urgently, "I think you'd better--"  
  
Buffy took it from him. The light disappeared again, and Buffy dropped it in a pocket of her jacket. "So spill, Giles. What is it?"  
  
"I'm not sure," he said slowly. "I have an idea, but I'm not sure exactly." Then he smiled slyly. "But I'm going to have fun finding out."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	5. Default Chapter Title

HOME IS WHERE YOU HANG YOUR CROSSBOW  
  
Chapter Five  
  
By Kamara  
  
stealthbunny@msn.com  
  
  
  
They didn't quite get back before dark, but they didn't miss it by much. The  
lights in the school parking lot were just coming on in the dark blue of  
twilight as Cordelia turned in.  
  
Oz was sitting on the steps to the school, playing his guitar to himself.  
Without being plugged into an amp, the sound was soft and tinny. He was  
frowning slightly in concentration as he ran one section a few times with  
alternate fingerings. Then he looked up and saw them. His gaze immediately  
sought Willow out and his face lit in a smile that was somehow more  
demonstrative than if he had run to her and swung her in his arms. The rest  
of them ceased to exist as she beamed back at him. Then he blinked in  
remembrance and nodded at the others. I just thought I'd meet Willow here,  
since it's getting dark and all." He put his guitar in its case and started  
snapping it closed.  
  
"The Dingoes are playing tonight at the Bronze," Willow said proudly and  
completely unnecessarily, since she had been mentioning it every day for the  
last week.  
  
"At least your boyfriend doesn't rely on you for rides," Cordelia sighed.  
"I've got to book, if I'm going to change and pick up Xander before your gig  
starts." She waved lightly at them from the car window, almost as an  
afterthought, her mind obviously sorting through her closet, and drove away.  
  
Willow was showing Oz her stuffed rabbit, and he was using one of its ears to  
tickle her nose. "Are they always this cute?" Sarah murmured to Buffy.  
  
Buffy nodded. "Yep, pretty much."  
  
Willow blushed a little and knocked Oz's hand away, intertwining her fingers  
through his as she did so. "Umm... Buffy, you wanna ride over with us?" she  
asked.  
  
Buffy was about to refuse -- she felt enough like a their week anyway -- when  
Giles broke in with, "Or you can help me research and find out what this globe  
is."  
  
"The Bronze it is," she said quickly. "Sorry, Giles, but I had promised."  
  
"Well, actually, no you didn't... ah, I mean, no you didn't just promise, you  
swore you'd be there!" Willow covered herself quickly at Buffy's desperate  
expression.  
  
"Come Hellmouth or high water," Buffy rushed on. "Gotta be there to support  
my friends."  
  
Giles smiled wryly. "Don't try so hard, Buffy. Of course you don't have to  
stay. There's always tomorrow, since you don't have school."  
  
Buffy's face fell. "Oh... That's... great, Giles. Yes. I will look forward  
to that. Tomorrow."  
  
"We'll help," Willow offered eagerly. "We can make a day of it. It'll be  
fun." She looked over at Buffy. "Won't it?" she said timidly.  
  
"Loads," Buffy said dryly.  
  
"Well, actually, it won't be until tomorrow afternoon," Giles said  
reluctantly. "I have one of those conferences tomorrow morning."  
  
"Aw," Buffy said. "Only half a day of research instead of a whole day. I'm  
so disappointed. I think we should leave now, before this gets any worse."  
  
"Do you want to come with us?" Willow asked Sarah.  
  
The woman shook her head. "No, I think I am just going to get something to  
eat, then go home."  
  
Buffy leaned over to Giles. "Ask her to dinner," she hissed.  
  
Giles looked panicked, "Buffy, I can't just --"  
  
"That's just what Giles said," Buffy said louder. "That he was hungry, I  
mean. Didn't you, Giles?" She stepped sharply on his foot.  
  
"Ow...! Er, I mean... dinner?" he asked almost frantically, edging away from  
Buffy and her boots.  
  
Sarah glanced at Buffy, who was beaming innocently. "I... guess so."  
  
"Well, that's settled," Buffy said quickly. "Oz, Willow, before there's any  
more talk of things involving lots of musty boring books...?"  
  
"Oh, yes!" Willow said brightly. "Come on, Oz."  
  
Buffy dragged them both to Oz's van.  
  
Which left Giles and Sarah alone on the school steps, with identical  
expressions of panic on their faces. Sarah scuffed at the pavement with the  
toe of her boot. "You don't have to, just because Buffy pushed you."  
  
"Ah, you caught that, did you?" Giles avoided her eyes just as hard as she  
was avoiding his. "Well... I mean... we didn't have lunch, and that was  
rather my fault... and I do owe you for that marvelous bargaining session..."  
  
"Is that a yes?" Sarah asked, a note of amusement creeping into her voice.  
  
"Well... yes... I guess it is... Did you drive here?"  
  
"No,"' she said. "I live only a few blocks away. In fact, if you'd like, we  
could stop by at my place, and I'll set up a search on the computer for your  
blue globie-thingie. By the time we get back from dinner, we should have  
something. It might help you cut through some of the books."  
  
"Oh, like Willow does," Giles said, trying to sound knowledgeable about such  
things.  
  
Sarah shrugged. "I have no idea how it works. I just ask some of the folks  
back home to do their computer magical woogidee woogidee stuff, and they send  
the results back to me. Sometimes I even manage to hit the right button to  
print it out. Sometimes, even without losing it once and having to ask them  
to send it again." She smiled fondly. "Sometimes, they just send it to me  
twice anyway. One to lose and one that I actually get to read."  
  
"I can sympathize," Giles said. "I have no idea what Willow is talking about  
most of the time. I like books. You can hold them and don't have to worry  
about them getting 'eaten'."  
  
"Exactly," Sarah sighed.  
  
"Well, that's my car over there," Giles pointed to the only car left in the  
lot. They walked over to it, but Sarah stopped a few feet away from it,  
studying the ancient car with her head cocked to one side.  
  
"I think I can see why Buffy didn't want to take yours today," she said  
thoughtfully. "You can't mean this is really yours...? I thought it was some  
student's who couldn't get it started and left it here."  
  
"Very funny," Giles said lightly. "But it doesn't do to make fun of someone's  
car when he's taking you to dinner."  
  
"Exactly what I said," she went on. "Great car. Did I mention that?"  
  
"You must really be hungry," he muttered, and she grinned over the car roof at  
him.  
  
The car actually did start, and she directed him to an old, large house that  
had been made into a few apartments. Hers was on the bottom floor, to the  
rear of the house. It was small, barely two rooms, and it looked like she had  
rented it furnished. It didn't really even looked lived in, Giles reflected.  
Sarah had dropped her knapsack to the floor to one side of the door as she  
walked in, and she went over to the laptop computer that was sitting on an  
ancient dining room table that looked like it had never made its way out of  
the 70's. "This will only take a minute," she said absently, turning the  
computer on and letting it hum mysteriously for a moment before clicking a  
couple of times with the rodent-thingamajigee, and then typing furiously.  
"I'm asking for them to look up any type of blue glowing paperweight thingies,  
and we'll see what they come up with." She grinned for a second. "Wren'll  
love it. She's the one that does special computer research for me. She hated  
research papers back in school, but once she learned this Internet stuff, she  
just went wild over it." She hit another button, then shut the computer down.  
"There. We'll see how much she can find by the time we get back."  
  
Giles was still watching, mystified. "That's all you have to do?"  
  
"No," she admitted. "Well, actually, yes. That's all I have to do. Someone  
else does the real work. I no longer have the time to do research." she  
sighed, then shrugged. "I'm just one of the scouts, now."  
  
They ran into rather the same problem that all of them had had earlier that  
afternoon. Not really able to decide on a specific type of restaurant, they  
went to a Dennys, simply because it was close. They managed to fill the first  
few minutes with menu conversation, until they gave their orders, then they  
looked rather helplessly at each other. "I'm not really good at this any  
more," Sarah said weakly.  
  
"At what?"  
  
"Conversation?" She poked her fork around on her placemat. "I haven't really  
been around people long enough to have conversations. I've been on the road  
for a long time."  
  
"So you didn't drive across the country just to find us?"  
  
"Oh, no," she said quickly. "I just got to the point where I couldn't stay  
home anymore. And I'm... not really needed like I used to be, back home, so I  
thought I'd try scouting for a while." She played with her fork a little  
more, started to say something. stopped, then tried again. "I've seen a lot  
of people die, people I really loved and cared about," she said softly. "I  
just couldn't stand being around those memories so much. And there's always  
the need for some of us to travel, to be some place or another. I went on a  
trip just to get away and do something else, and I never really went back....  
and it's easier when you don't get to know people as well." She looked up at  
him fleetingly, and thought she saw a flicker of recognition in his eyes  
before she looked away again.  
  
"What did you used to do," he asked, in a change of subject, "before the  
otherworld took over your life."  
  
"I was a historian," she said brightly. "A history freak, who spent more time  
in a library than out. Early Middle Ages, especially."  
  
And from then on, they both suddenly found the conversation much easier.  
Dinner went by quickly, and they argued for a few minutes over who would pay  
the bill. Outside, Sarah stopped at the car, and looked at her watch. "Are  
you in a real hurry? I'd kind of like to give Wren a little more time before  
I nag at her."  
  
"I was going to go back to the library and do some research, but..." Giles  
found himself smiling. "What did you have in mind."  
  
Sarah folded her arms on the roof of the car and rested her chin on them.  
"That's the ocean I smell, isn't it?"  
  
"Yes. The beach is only a few blocks away."  
  
"I've never see the ocean," she said wistfully. "All the traveling, and none  
of it on either coast."  
  
After that, Giles could hardly refuse. They left the car in the Dennys  
parking lot and walked. The conversation had died away again, but it didn't  
seem uncomfortable, so neither of them seemed to want to break the quiet. The  
sidewalk broke off at the top of a small hill, and on the other side, gravel  
and dirt gave way to sand.  
  
"Wow," she said softly.  
  
The air was damp and cold and salty, but the sea was calm for that late in the  
year. The waves lapped in and out, but the surf was gentle, without the usual  
curls of foam.  
  
"He would have loved this," she murmured.  
  
"Your husband?"  
  
She nodded, her eyes tragic in the war between the dull light from the distant  
streetlight and the soft moonglow. The wind picked up for a moment, and she  
closed her eyes, tilting her head back in the misty air, breathing in the  
salt. Then she opened her eyes and smiled. "No matter what happens to this  
world, whichever side wins, that will never change, will it? The ocean will  
always be there."  
  
"One hopes so, anyway." Giles put his hands in his coat pockets. When the  
wind blew, the air turned nippy. "I've always liked the ocean. It reminds me  
of home."  
  
"England?" she asked absently, still watching the waves.  
  
"No, the accent's Russian."  
  
She burst out in laughter. "I asked for that one, didn't I? And Buffy  
doesn't seem to think you have a sense of humor."  
  
"Just not one that she appreciates," Giles said fondly.  
  
"She's pretty amazing, you know," Sarah said thoughtfully.  
  
"Yes," he said. "I rather think so, too."  
  
"When I try to remember what it was like just getting through high school,  
just being seventeen, I can't even imagine piling being the Slayer on top of  
that. I didn't even make it through college, when I--" and she broke off  
suddenly, looking out over the water, but not really seeing anything. At  
least, not anything there, Giles thought. Memories, yes. Memories always  
haunted. They never let you forget.  
  
"Perhaps we should go back where it's warm," he said lightly, as if he never  
noticed her pause.  
  
"That's all right," she said faintly. "Wren probably has something for us by  
now, anyway." She jammed her hands in the pockets of her jacket too, and bent  
her head. Her hair flew around her face until he couldn't see it, and he  
looked away, as if he felt he would be intruding if he saw her expression.  
  
Once back at her sparse apartment, she turned the computer on. "I don't have  
any coffee, but if you'd like some tea..."  
  
"That would be fine," he said. He took the globe out of his pocket. The glow  
lit up the room dimly. He put it on the table and the glow died. Unable to  
stop himself, he touched it again. The glow lit up. He pulled his hand back.  
The room went back to normal light.  
  
"Will you stop playing with that?" she called from the kitchenette. "It makes  
me jumpy."  
  
"I believe Buffy would call it 'the wiggins'," he said, but left the globe  
alone this time.  
  
Sarah came back in. "The water will be ready in a few minutes," she said and  
bent over the computer. "Ah, thank you, Wren," she murmured, then held her  
breath as she keyed in a few commands. The printer flared into action, and  
she smiled in relief. "I must be getting better. I didn't lose it that  
time." She leaned back in her chair and propped her feet on the table and  
grinned. "Ooh, I feel like such a computer geek." The tea kettle started its  
unholy screeching, and she let her feet fall back to the floor. "Be right  
back, again." She disappeared into the kitchenette.  
  
Giles timidly approached the printer and gingerly lifted the first few pages  
out. The first page looked to be a private message, and he quickly set it  
aside. He was halfway through the next page when Sarah came back with a tray  
with two mugs of steaming water, a cup of tea bags, a cup of milk, and some  
sugar bags that looked like she had snitched them from the Dennys. Giles  
absently fixed his cup of tea while still reading. He accomplished it with  
the air of someone who did it very often; he didn't even spill any. "Aha!"  
he said suddenly. "Right here, it talks about the Orb of Gekkos, which among  
other things, senses magic and glows brightly."  
  
Sarah leaned over, trying to read upside down. "What else does it do?"  
  
Giles shuffled through the remaining few pages. "It doesn't say."  
  
"That's a lot of help." Sarah scanned the first page, which had been the  
private letter, and smiled at something that was written. "Well, she does say  
that it was the only thing she found that came close to that description, but  
this was all she could find on it. It looks like she found one mention of it,  
and that was it. She says she'll keep looking though."  
  
"Orb of Gekkos..." Giles took off his glasses and thought a minute. "Now  
that I hear it, the name does sound familiar. I think I heard it mentioned at  
a conference once, but I don't remember much about it, either."  
  
"But this is why books exist," Sarah said wisely.  
  
"Yes, of course." Giles looked at the Orb for a moment, then indulged himself  
and touched it again just to see it glow. "Rather pretty thing, isn't it?"  
  
"What was that word? Wiggins?" Sarah said with a shudder. "I never did  
understand this magic stuff. I like facing things I can see and fight.  
Direct confrontation."  
  
"Well, there is a certain amount of satisfaction in that too," Giles agreed.  
"but there is a certain challenge in magic that can be quite... addictive."  
  
"You're going back to the library, aren't you?"  
  
He looked at her in surprise and put his glasses back on. "What makes you  
think that?"  
  
"I recognized the expression."  
  
"Well, actually, yes. I thought I might."  
  



	6. Default Chapter Title

HOME IS WHERE YOU HANG YOUR CROSSBOW  
  
Chapter Six  
  
by Kamara  
  
stealthbunny@msn.com  
  
  
"Y'know, sometimes I think that's the worst part about being a Slayer," Buffy told Willow as they walked up to the school. "I'm actually _expected_ to do all this research. I don't even get to study for my classes, but here I am on a day off from school, and where am I going?" She pulled the school door open with a snort of disgust.  
  
"Aw, what would you be doing, anyway?" Willow scoffed. "Sleeping in? Listening to music? Pigging out on those cookies your mom made? Shopping? I'm beginning to see your point."  
  
"I thought you would."  
  
Their footsteps echoed through the halls that were mostly empty. They could hear the sounds of several meetings going on in various classrooms, but without the din of students running to classes, lockers slamming, and the inevitable poor kid taking a spill in the hallway and sending his books flying, the school had that empty deserted feel. Willow once said it was spooky, but Buffy didn't think it was any more so than walking down an alley at night. Come to think of it, considering everything she had seen happen in this school, Willow was probably right and the alley was probably safer after all.  
  
They walked into the library. Sarah was curled up in one of the oversized chairs, in a pose that would look uncomfortable on anyone else, but somehow was perfectly comfy on her. There was a pile of books on the floor next to the chair, and one in her lap that seemed to be largely ignored as she and Giles were having an apparently fascinating discussion on the impact the invention of the plow had had on early Medieval society.  
  
"Oh, God," Buffy said, staring at them blankly. "They even talk alike."  
  
"Yeah, bookese," Willow agreed.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Buffy shot back. "You speak that language, too."  
  
"Yeah, but not fluently," Willow defended. "I'm not old enough to speak it fluently. I haven't been in school long enough."  
  
"I don't want to think how many years that would take me," Buffy said faintly. She walked to the circulation desk and dropped her bookbag loudly on its surface. "So," she said loudly, breaking the hushed silence the library seemed to have eternally. "Did we find anything, or have we been talking gardening all morning?"  
  
Giles frowned at Buffy, but apparently decided to let the comment slide. "Well, I've been in conferences all morning, but Sarah has been doing some reading. We at least know what it is, but not much about what it does."  
  
Buffy waited expectantly, but Giles was already scanning the pages of the book he held. "Go on," he said absently, waving towards the rows of books. "You came to help, didn't you?"  
  
"Giles?" she said softly and very patiently. "What are we looking for?"  
  
He looked up at her again and blinked. A slow, rather sheepish smile crept across his face. "Yes, I suppose that would rather help, wouldn't it?"  
  
"Just a little bit," Buffy agreed, then rolled her eyes at Willow.  
  
"Well," Giles fell into lecturing mode... which actually, Buffy reflected, wasn't much different from many of his other modes. Somehow, that thought was a bit comforting. "It appears it is an Orb of Gekkos. It does sense magic and is attracted to it. For example, if you or Sarah, here, tried to cast a spell with it, your spell wouldn't work. It would take someone like Willow or myself."  
  
"So what kind of things does it do?" Buffy eyed the dark globe warily. "It still just looks like a funky paperweight to me." She reached out to tough it, and Giles whisked it away rather protectively. "I wasn't going to do anything to it!" she protested.  
  
"I'm sure you weren't," he said soothingly, but he slipped the Orb in his pocket anyway. "But we still aren't sure what it does do, and until then, perhaps no one without magical ability should touch it."  
  
"Like, it might do something icky to them?" Willow asked anxiously.  
  
"That's what we don't know yet," Giles said and shooed them towards the stacks. "Are the others coming in today, too?"  
  
"They have lives," Buffy grumbled.  
  
"Is that a yes or a no?" Giles asked patiently.  
  
"Oz has practice this afternoon, but will be in tonight," Willow supplied, already searching through the stacks. "Xander and Cordy will be here in a couple of hours. They're going to bring munchies for us."  
  
"So we don't pass out from fatigue and over-exertion," Buffy murmured as she scanned down the index of a book on magical talismans.  
  
"Wonderful," Giles said dryly. "I haven't gotten the pizza sauce off the pages of the _Ytippilf Chronicles_ yet." He went back to his own pile of books. Sarah asked him something they couldn't hear, and he stopped to answer her, leaning back against the table behind him and tapping absently on the cover of the book he had been about to open.  
  
Buffy and Willow looked at each other, looked at them talking in easy conversation, and looked at each other again. Willow grabbed Buffy's arm and pulled her in among the stacks. "Do you think they came in together?" she whispered eagerly. "You know, like this morning?"  
  
"Like all night together-type thing?" Buffy's eyes were lit in glee. "Wow. I'm pretty good at this matchmaking stuff, aren't I?"  
  
They peered through a row of books. "It would be good for Giles," Willow whispered earnestly. "He hasn't seen anyone since Ms. Calender... well, you know."  
  
Buffy winced inwardly. She really didn't need to be reminded that Angel had killed the computer teacher. "Yeah, but Giles has no life. He doesn't know how to date." She turned and slid down against the bookshelves until she was sitting on the floor. Willow mimicked her. Buffy opened the book on talismans again and stared blankly at the page in front of her. Willow opened her own book, but watched Buffy over the top of the pages.  
  
Buffy tapped her foot with impatience. Then she began drumming her fingers on the edge of the book cover. "This is driving me nuts," she finally grumbled. She put the book aside and peeked around the corner. Giles had gone into his office, and she heard the familiar sounds of him putting water on for tea. "I've gotta find out," she said to Willow. Willow squeaked and caught at her. She missed, and Buffy sauntered away. She sat on the table across from Sarah and looked at her.  
  
Sarah looked up and closed her book, her finger marking the page. They regarded each other for a moment. "Well?" Buffy asked impatiently.  
  
"Well, what?" Sarah raised her eyebrow and cocked her head slightly.  
  
"Did you?"  
  
"Did I what?" Her expression was one of bemusement.  
  
Buffy blew her breath out in frustration. "Did you sleep with him?"  
  
Sarah's expression didn't change. "That's none of your business," she said lightly and went back to reading.  
  
Buffy stayed seated on the table until she realized Sarah was going to keep on ignoring her. She hopped off and stalked determinedly to Giles' office.  
  
The librarian glanced up as she came in. "Ah, Buffy. Would you like a cup of tea?"  
  
She twitched her nose. "No, I don't think so."  
  
Giles stirred his cup and started to take a sip. He saw her set face and asked, "What is it, Buffy?" just before he took a sip of the tea.  
  
"Did you sleep with her?" she asked bluntly.  
  
Giles spluttered into his tea, coughed once, then glared at her. "Buffy, I hardly--"  
  
"Did you?" she insisted.  
  
He regarded her thoughtfully for a moment, then sat down, still watching her fume. "Buffy," he said, and she leaned forward eagerly. "It's none of your business," he said softly, and with a slight smile.  
  
Buffy growled in frustration and stormed out of the office. She stomped over to Willow, who was still cowering behind bookshelves, and sat down.  
  
"Well?" Willow asked. "What did you--"  
  
"I don't want to talk about it, Will." Buffy picked up her book and opened it purposefully."  
  
"They didn't tell you, did they?"  
  
"Just read, Willow."  
  
*  
  
Xander and Cordelia came in later. Buffy stretched and rubbed at the back of her neck. "What time is it, anyway?" she murmured to Willow.  
  
Willow checked her watch. "About three."  
  
They had retreated up to the second floor of the split-level library, and Buffy leaned over the railing. "Hey, Xander! Didja check the parking lot as you came in?"  
  
Xander held up a portable boombox. "Snyder-free," he shot back.  
  
Giles groaned. "Honestly, can't you people ever do anything in quiet? Or at least listen to something that qualifies as real music?'  
  
Buffy came downstairs. "Giles, I don't even want to consider what you think is real music."  
  
"CD player is in my backpack," Sarah murmured to him.  
  
"Thank you," he said gratefully and retreated to the comparative quiet of his office. Xander upended his backpack and poured out an immense pile of junk food. "And here, just for my little frenetic researchers."  
  
"Xander, shut up," Buffy suggested mildly, fishing out a snack-sized bag of chips from the pile.  
  
"Oooh, are we not having a fun time?" Xander asked. "It's such a nice day out, too. Sun shining, birds chirping."  
  
"And you're one to notice nature? Mister-I'd-like-to-but-I'm-too-busy-watching-reruns?  
  
"I notice nature," Xander said, wounded. "I love nature. The problem is that we live on the Hellmouth, and nature tends to try to kill me while I'm trying to enjoy it."  
  
"He's got a point there." Cordelia stared at the growing pile of books in distaste. "I'm still not sure how I ever got pulled into this. We could be out socializing or something."  
  
"Where your friends will see us?" Xander asked.  
  
"Give me a book." Cordelia picked out one at random, then snagged Xander and pulled him up the stairs. They disappeared between a row of books.  
  
"Oh, they'll get a lot of work done," Buffy observed and turned on the boombox. Music blared. The door to Giles' office slammed shut.  
  
The afternoon stretched into evening at about the same pace the pile of junk food dwindled. As it grew later, they all started getting a little punchy and the bantering and bickering began to fly thick.  
  
"It would at least feel worthwhile if we found something," Buffy grumbled to Willow, rubbing her eyes wearily. "This Orb thingie must be the rarest thingie in the magical universe."  
  
"Not necessarily," Willow said. "Sometimes the most powerful stuff just isn't mentioned much. Y'know, in case too many people hear about it. Then it becomes kinda dangerous for the person who has one, because everyone wants it." She shrugged with a small smile.  
  
Buffy studied her. "You really do like this stuff, don't you?" she asked. "It's not just something you're doing. You like all this spell and magic stuff."  
  
"Well, yeah," Willow said. "I mean... I'm not good at the punches and kicks., but I think I can be really good at this. It's like science lab, but not."  
  
"That's really descriptive."  
  
Willow shook her head. "No, that's really what I mean. I just don't know how to describe it better." She thought for a moment. "I guess... well, there are a lot of scientists and computer techs, but there really aren't too many witches in comparison. It's special. Like science, but not." She looked at Buffy wistfully. "Does that make any sense?"  
  
Buffy nodded. "Sure, I guess. Well, actually, no. But I do think it's kinda neat. And you're so good at school and stuff, that of course you're going to be good at this, too."  
  
"It doesn't quite work that way," she said, but looked pleased. "But anyway, I'm not too good, according to Giles."  
  
Buffy waved a hand, dismissing the comment. "Nah, that's just Giles. He doesn't know how to compliment. Just to make you work harder." A new song came over the radio, and she leaned over to turn it up. "Hey, I like this one."  
  
"Oh, _One Week_." Willow grinned and nodded her head back and forth in time to the music. Buffy began chanting the words softly. Then Xander's voice joined in, floating down from the second level, then they were all singing. Xander appeared at the end of the row of books, pulling Cordelia into a dance. She laughed, and he abandoned her long enough to run down the stairs and pull Buffy and Willow to their feet. He spun Willow around, and she giggled, trying to keep singing, but her laughter kept breaking through. She backed out of the way as Buffy danced through, and Xander ran lightly back up the stairs to whirl a protesting Cordelia around and back into his arms again. Willow laughed and clapped, and stepped back again as Buffy flew by, and backed into Giles, who was watching the whole scene helplessly. Buffy quickly turned down the music, and they all looked at him like children caught in the act of sneaking cookies from the cookie jar.  
  
"How can you even call that music?" Giles asked, after having apparently sorted through several things to say and deciding that this was the safest. "It's loud, I don't know how you can even understand the -- dare I call them -- lyrics. Music should be something soothing, should have some... some dignity. What was that anyway?"  
  
"Barenaked Ladies," Buffy supplied.  
  
Giles started to say something. Stopped. Turned. Walked back into his office. Slammed the door shut. Again.  
  
Buffy sat on the tabled and glared at the pile of books that were left. "You know, with our luck, we'll go through every book, and it'll be the last one we touch."  
  
They all exchanged looks. Xander came down and picked up all of the pile except for the bottom-most book. Buffy picked it up and turned to the index. "Hey, Giles!" she shouted. "I found it!"  
  
Giles hurried out of his office, and everyone crowded around Buffy. "Good job," he said eagerly. "What does it say?"  
  
Buffy had turned to the page and was frowning helplessly at the book. "It's in some kind of funny language."  
  
Giles took the book from her, looked at the page where she was pointing, then gave her a tired look. "Buffy, that Latin."  
  
"Yeah," she said. "A funny language."  
  
"My Latin's really rusty," Sarah said hesitantly.  
  
"Oh, don't worry," Willow said happily. "Giles is good at this type of thing."  
  
"Well, in that case," Xander said, pointing at the clock, "it's past dinner time, and the munchies are gone. What say the rest of us go get food and bring it back, while Giles works on finding out whether this is something that will help us or kill us."  
  
"I'll stay and help," Sarah offered.  
  
"Me, too," Willow said eagerly. "After all, I'm the only other person who can work it. If we find out how to work it."  
  
Giles was already sitting down and frowning at the page. "Yes, all right, do whatever..."  
  
"Giles, the library is on fire," Buffy said.  
  
"Yes, that's nice, Buffy," he said absently.  
  
Buffy rolled her eyes and grabbed Xander's arm. "Get me out of here," she pleaded. "I've been here ALL DAY!"  
  
"Uh oh, she's freaking out." Xander ushered her to the door. "Sounds like something only a pizza can save."  
  
"Hungry," Buffy agreed in a tiny pathetic voice as they left the library.  
  
"I need a quick break, too," Sarah said. "I'll be back in about ten minutes."  
  
"Yes, tea would be fine," Giles murmured.  
  
Sarah grinned at Willow, shaking her head. She caught up her jacket and walked out to sit on the front steps. She closed her eyes, resting her head in her hands. The cold air felt good after the long hours of the warm library, and she rubbed her forehead, trying to smooth out the tension.  
  
A van pulled into the parking lot a few minutes later, and she idly watched as it parked. Oz climbed out and waved at her as he walked over. "How's it going?"  
  
"We read, we found, Giles is translating, they're making a food run," she answered.  
  
"That's cool," he said calmly. "Willow inside?"  
  
She nodded, and Oz went inside. About five minutes later, he came back. "Umm... hey, did you say they were in the library? Because if you did, they aren't."  
  
She opened her eyes and blinked at him. "They were just there. Both Willow and Giles. Just about fifteen minutes ago."  
  
Oz shook his head. "No, they aren't. Did they decide to go with the others?"  
  
She stood up, beginning to be concerned. "No, they were still there after Xander left." She walked into the building, but by the time she was halfway to the library, she was running, Oz matching her stride next to her.  
  
The radio was still playing. The computer was still humming, and the tea kettle was just beginning to whistle. The book Giles had been translating from was still on the table, but his chair was knocked over, and the library was empty.  
  



	7. Default Chapter Title

HOME IS WHERE YOU HANG YOUR CROSSBOW  
  
Chapter Seven  
  
"How long ago did you see them?" Oz asked. His normal air of calmness was fraying around the edges.   
Sarah raked her hair back from her face. "Ten minutes. Not even!" Her voice cracked harshly as it rose above her normal low tone. "They can't have gone far. How far could anyone get in less than ten minutes?"  
"You haven't lived on the Hellmouth," Oz said. "Let's look around the school. Maybe they just took bathroom breaks or something."  
They ran into Buffy, Xander, and Cordelia in the hallway, all laden under pizza boxes and cups of soda. Buffy took one look at them, and the back of her neck tingled. "What's wrong," she said quickly.  
"It would seem that Willow and Giles got themselves lost," Oz explained.   
"Again?" Cordelia sighed in exasperation.  
"All right, let's search the school first," Buffy said. "Xander, you and Cordelia check the gym, locker rooms, bathrooms, that type of stuff. Oz, go check all the science labs and classrooms. Maybe they wanted to do an experiment on that Orb thingie." She stopped a moment. "Wait, where's the Orb?"  
Sarah's eyes went a little panicked and she ran back into the library. Buffy went with her, and they found the Orb sitting on Giles' desk. "Do you think it did something to them?" Sarah asked, eying the Orb nervously, her hands firmly behind her back.  
Buffy squatted down to look at the Orb at eye level. "I don't know," she said hesitantly. She was also very careful not to touch it. "I think Giles knows enough of what he's doing not to do anything stupid with it. I was afraid someone had come looking for it and nailed them, but here it is, and here they aren't, so that theory is leaking water, too."  
Oz leaned in the door, breathing hard. "They're not in the school. We just ran through the entire building."  
"Giles's car is still out front," Xander reported.  
Buffy's face creased in concern, and she went out into the library to kneel by the fallen chair. "No blood," she said softly. She stood up and glanced at the open book. "And no one made a grab for this, so it looks like whatever it is, is not related to that Orb."  
"Unless it did something grotesque and icky to them, and now it's just sitting there waiting for us," Xander said.  
"Thank you for that wonderful image," Cordy hissed under her breath. 'No wonder I have so many nightmares."  
Buffy looked over at Oz. "Can you smell anything?"  
He shrugged. "Not really the right time of the moon for that." He sniffed at the air thoughtfully. "They were here, and then they went out the door. After that, the scents mix too much."  
"You can smell them?" Sarah asked warily.  
"Oz is a werewolf," Buffy explained absently, ignoring Sarah's take of surprise. She had too much else to worry about. "All right. So they went out the door. So the Orb didn't do anything icky to them. Giles is too obsessive not to leave a note if they were just running out for an errand. So I'm betting someone took them."  
"Like that's really a surprise, too," Cordelia sighed. "So now we get to run in an play calvary to the rescue?"  
"Right, Cordy," Xander said patiently. "Now, where do we charge to?"   
"Oh, I don't know," she said airily. "That's Buffy's line of expertise, isn't it?"  
Buffy closed her eyes, fighting a real urge to strangle Cordelia. She needed every person she could get, no matter how tempting it was. "Right. Except that I don't know, either, Cordy," she said sweetly.  
"Great," Cordelia threw up her hands in impatience. "So do we just sit around here waiting for someone to magically drop in and tell us?"  
"Actually," a strange voice said, "I thought I'd use the door."  
No one saw Buffy pull a stake out of anywhere, but she had one in her hand. A vampire was standing in the doorway, leaning against the door frame. She took a step towards it, stake raised, but the vampire shook his head. "If you kill me, dear, you wont find your friends."  
Buffy gritted her teeth, but lowered her hand. "All right," she said. "Talk."   
"Where's Willow?" Oz asked, almost growling it.  
"The Watcher and the useless one are all right," the vampire crooned. "I bring a message. You can have them back, but we want a swap."  
"For what?" Xander asked angrily.  
"The usual." The vampire smiled, fangs glittering. "The Slayer, of course. You show up, we might release your friends. Either way, you face us. Slayer against Vampires. And a few other things, of course. You might even live through it. So might your friends."  
"Or I could just stake you now," Buffy said pleasantly.  
"I don't think so." The vampire studied his fingernails, then looked at her. "If I dont show up back there in thirty minutes, your friends die then. Although maybe we'll keep the Watcher a little longer. He might be useful. The other one, though..." he shook his head mournfully.  
Oz and Sarah started for him then, with identical growls, but Buffy caught both of their arms as they went past her. She was more than strong enough to haul them back. "Where?" she asked.  
"Oh, at the park, in about an hour." He smiled again. "We're all looking forward to it."   
"Oh, goodie," she said brightly. "Enjoy it. It may be the last thing you look forward to."  
"Perhaps," he said, and walked away.   
They heard his footsteps echo for three or four steps, then nothing.  
"I could follow him," Sarah said in a low voice.  
Buffy gnawed at the knuckle of one finger. "No," she said hesitantly. "We know where they are. There's no point in following him. And if you end up in a fight with him and kill him, Giles and Willow are dead. No, we need to handle this differently."  
"We need a plan," Xander said. He loved this part.   
"I like plans," Oz said. "Especially the part where we save Willow."  
"Well, you always seem to favor the direct approach," Cordelia said. "You know, the one where Buffy charges in and saves the day."  
"And gets Willow and Giles killed if we aren't careful," Buffy snapped. "This is not just staking a vamp in the cemetary. There's a little more at stake here."  
"So someone needs to be able to sneak in and get them out before the fighting starts," Xander said.  
"Yes, getting them out would be good," Oz agreed. "I'll do the sneaking."  
"A distraction would be better," Buffy thought out loud. "Something to cover you while you're doing the sneaking. Especially if one of them is hurt. You'll need all hell breaking loose to get in and them out."  
"I can take care of the distraction," Sarah said.   
"How?" Buffy asked.  
Sarah shook her head. "Let me handle that. But I'll need some way to get close enough, and I don't think two of us sneaking in is a good plan."  
"Oh, great. Why don't you just walk right in, then?" Cordelia said sarcastically.   
"Good idea," Sarah said lightly.   
"I was kidding."  
"I wasn't." Sarah looked steadily at Buffy. "You get me close enough, and I'll create your distraction." She smiled tightly. "I promise, it'll be a good one."  
"Let me think on that a moment longer," Buffy told her. "Now the rest of you..."  
"Here's where I come in." Xander clapped his hands and rubbed them together. "Weapons planner. Okay, Buff, you know where Giles keeps the holy water?"  
"Yeah, sure. Time to try out those water guns? I've got some vials at home too. We can stop on the way."  
"Good. Now, we've got two crossbows, right? Yours and the one here?"  
"Three actually," Buffy said. "Giles has one at his place that I'm not allowed to touch. We'll pick it up along the way, too."  
"Even better." Xander thought a minute. "Right. Set me and Cordy up with the crossbows and as many bolts as we have. Cordy can reload for me, and I'll pop 'em off, give you enough cover to get in the thick of the fighting. We'll set up those water balloons, too, and hide them. Oz, after you rescue Giles and Willow, get back to the pile of water ballons and start netting those in. We'll have to dilute the holy water to have enough, so be prepared for it not being as effective. What we're trying for is to slow them down so someone can get in a stake them. Whoever's closest. When we're out of bolts, Cordy and I will come down and help. Buffy, you do...." he hesitated for a moment, then shrugged. "Do Slayer stuff. And Sarah will do whatever she has planned for a distraction."  
"You have to get me close enough," Sarah reminded.  
Buffy paced for a moment. Her eye fell on the Orb, and she stopped to look at it, her head cocked. "Sarah," she said lightly, "how close do you want to get?"  
"As close as possible. Right in their faces, if you can do it."   
"I think I can." Buffy smiled. It was not really a very pleasant smile. "I think I have an idea."  
  
  
  
  



	8. Default Chapter Title

HOME IS WHERE YOU HANG YOUR CROSSBOW  
Chapter Eight  
by Kamara  
stealthbunny@msn.com  
  
Buffy wiggled up along the ridge line the small hill in the park made and looked down on the clearing below about 50 yards away. A large group of people milled, but none of them looked her way. She wiggled back down just below the ridge and sat crosslegged, looking at the others.  
She took a deep breath. "Okay. Here we go. Oz, you go up first and take a look. They aren't too far away, but I want you to get a feel for it before you go down in there. There's lots of brush - doesn't anyone take care of the parks in Sunnydale - so you shouldn't have too much trouble sneaking up to them."  
"Gotcha." He dropped to his belly and wiggled up to the ridge like she had. He carried a wooden baseball bat in one hand, and had a couple of stakes in his back pocket.  
Xander was loading the last crossbow. Cordelia knew how to load them, and she preferred being the weapons management. Anything rather than being in the thick of it. She was laying the bolts out where she could reach them easily. They may have had the extra crossbow, but they were lower on bolts than they would have liked, and she eyed the little pile fearfully. As long as the pile held out, she would be safely away from the fighting. Once they were out, it meant that they would be going hand to hand. She touched the small pile of stakes next to her on her other side. It wasn't much comfort.  
Oz looked down at them, gave a little wave, then melted into the bushes soundlessly. Buffy closed her eyes and mentally wished him luck. She felt a twinge of fear in her stomach; she hated sending one of them out on something like this. She'd rather do it herself than risk any of her friends.  
But sometimes, you just didn't have a choice.  
She crawled back up the slope again. This time, Sarah and Xander came with her, and they peered over the edge. "Giles and Willow are down there," Buffy said in a murmur that wouldn't carry more than a few feet. "Xander, how many bolts do we have?"  
"About twenty."  
Buffy sighed and studied the movements below. "And I'd say there's, what, thirty down there? Thirty-five?"  
"Looks like."  
"Make 'em count, Xander." She looked at Sarah, on her other side. "You have this figured out yet?"  
Sarah chewed on her lower lip. Buffy noticed it was already raw. "Not really, but I have a basic idea."  
Buffy studied her closely. Her hair was pulled back, but she still looked pale against the dark red. "You gonna be able to handle this?"  
"Yeah," she said softly. "Just do me a favor?"  
"What?"  
  
She glanced at Buffy, her eyes haunted. "When all hell break loose, just don't kill me, huh?"  
  
Buffy rolled her eyes. "We have better aim than that!"  
"Speak for yourself," Xander whispered. "Who shot Giles with the tranquilizer dart?"  
Buffy frowned at him. "I was distracted."  
"That wasn't quite what I meant." Sarah shook her head. "Just be ready."  
"What's the signal?" Xander asked.  
She smiled mirthlessly. "You'll know it when you see it." She backed away and slipped through the brush, just as silently as Oz had.  
Oz, who at that moment was less than a few feet away from the pile of tweed that was Giles, and beyond that, something pink and fuzzy that had to be Willow's sweater. He hoped that Willow was still in it. He fought down the urge to crawl forward and cut them loose, especially when he heard Willow's voice, low and frightened. Giles answered with something that was probably meant to be soothing, but the tone of his voice was too tense. Oz leaned forward slightly, then eased back when he saw three vampires guarding them. There wasn't much of a way he could get them out without being pounced upon. He thought he could take care of three vampires, but not the thirty or so behind them who were sure to notice and not be happy in his general direction.  
He settled back to wait, hoping it wouldn't be long.  
It wasn't. There was a shout and a sudden violent rustling on the other side of the clearing.  
"Is that it?" Xander asked leaning over the crossbow.  
"I don't think so," Buffy said thoughtfully. "That really doesn't fall under my definition of 'all hell breaking loose.' And I dont think Sarah is one for exaggeration. Give it another minute or two. Hey, that's Trick, isn't it?"  
"Figures he's behind this," Xander said, then grinned. "I always wanted to say something like that."  
"You watch too much tv," Buffy said absently. Trick and several of the other vampires were watching the bushes where the shouting had come. He snapped his fingers and pointed, and two other vampires ran over. They didn't move very quickly, sauntering with the easy stride of a predator with very little that hunts it.  
One of them came flying back out again. He hit a tree hard and slunk to the ground in a crumpled heap. The other one backed out, hands held in front of him. Sarah stalked out from the bushes. She threw something at Trick's feet, and Buffy realized it was the head of another vampire.  
"Can I say yuck, now?" Xander said in a small voice.   
  
Privately, Buffy agreed. Staking was much less... messy. Still, beheading was a perfectly adequate method of killing a vampire. She wondered idly how Sarah had done it without a weapon, then suddenly decided she didn't want to know.  
  
Oz heard Willow's sudden squeak of fear as the head rolled near her, and his heart went out to her. It was so hard to be only a few feet away from her and still not be able to help. He eased to one side, so he had a better view of what was happening.  
Trick motioned for two other vampires to move forward, but Sarah looked at them. Oz couldnt see her expression, but the vamps backed down, with apologetic glances at Trick. Trick shook his head in disgust. "Now, why would you go killing some of my best troops?" he asked Sarah mildly.  
"If those are your best, I feel sorry for you," she answered.  
_Score one._ Oz thought gleefully.  
"Besides," she went on. "He was very... rude. I didn't like that much." She smiled, and Oz was suddenly very frightened. From the smile, he couldn't tell what side she was really on.  
Trick settled back, his eyes lit with amusement. "And who are you?"  
Sarah shrugged. "I'm the messenger. The Slayer heard yours out. She asks that you listen to hers."  
Trick studied her, then shrugged and smiled. "Does this mean the Slayer isn't coming?"  
"It means she wants to bargain." Sarah held up the Orb in her bloody hand. "Do you recognize this?"  
Trick leaned forward. His eyes sparked, and for a split second, his face shifted to vampire, then back to human. "Is that what I think it is?"  
Sarah studied it, as if someone else was holding it. "An Orb of Gekkos? Yes."  
Trick came forward and reached out to touch it, but Sarah whisked it away. She smiled again.  
Trick's gaze turned calculating. "I suppose you want them in exchange for this?"  
She shrugged. "The Slayer wants them back, She isn't finished with them yet."  
Trick frowned. "Do I know you?"  
"I don't think we've ever met," Sarah said through her teeth.  
"Yeah, but for a moment..." He shook his head. "But how do I know that's what you say it is? It's not glowing."  
She gave him a sardonic look. "I'm not magical."   
"I am. Let me hold it."  
She snatched it away again. "No, I don't think so." She waved her hand at Giles. "He's the Watcher. It will glow for him. You certainly have him tied up enough so he's not going anywhere."  
  
Trick nodded, and she moved to Giles and Willow. She squatted before them. "What the bloody hell are you doing?" Giles hissed.  
  
The vampire guards stepped forward, but she gave them one of those looks, and they hesitated. "Just be ready," she whispered, almost soundlessly. She handed Giles the Orb, and after a second, he took it in his bound hands.  
The Orb glowed to life, bathing them all in blue. Sarah glanced over her shoulder at the vampires. "Satisfied?"  
"I'm satisfied that it's real." Trick deliberated. Sarah patted Willow comfortingly on the knee, her movement hidded from the guards. She flowed to her feet, and turned to face Trick. She raised an eyebrow in question. Trick sighed and shook his head. "I could give you the girl for the Orb, but not the Watcher." He smiled through his fangs. "That's not my decision. Orders from On High. Political reasons, you might say." For some reason, he seemed to find that very funny.  
Sarah regarded him with distaste. "For both of them," she said quietly, but clearly enough for Oz to hear her. "Or you go back to your On High and tell him how you lost the only Orb of Gekkos ever seen in this country. Either way, he's probably going to be unhappy. I guess you have to decide which will make him angriest."  
Trick studied her, then turned to look at Giles and Willow. Oz carefully faded.  
"You might be able to catch them again another time," Sarah crooned. "How often will you find one of these?"  
"Are you sure I don't know you?" he asked again. "I could swear that... ah, well. You know, I could just have you killed and then I'd have the Orb and the two humans."  
She shrugged. "You could try," she agreed.  
The two vampires closest to her shot each other uncomfortable glances and eased a few more steps away.  
She stepped forward, until she was barely a foot away from Trick. She smiled. "I wouldn't, though," she said quietly. "It would be... rude."  
Trick's face suddenly harded, and he stepped away. "Kill her," he said sharply. One of the vampires muttered, "Damn," but moved forward.  
"I don't think so," Sarah purred, and she lunged forward, swifter than Oz could follow, and there was something about the set of her body that looked familiar to him, and then as she grabbed the vampire's throat and squeezed, her body shifted and _changed_, ripping through her clothes, her fingers around the vampire's neck lengthening into claws, and suddenly, she wasn't even human any more, but some creature of vengence, her voice raising into roars of anger.  
"I thought I recognized you," Trick said in surprise.   
"That's it," Buffy said from up on the ridge.  
  
"Gee, ya think?" Xander asked sarcastically. As Buffy plummeted into the growing melee below, he shot the first bolt, then handed the crossbow back to Cordelia, who handed him a loaded one in return.  
  
Buffy hurtled down the hill, the third crossbow in her hands. She shot the bolt on the run. The vampire disintegrated in front her, and she ran through the ashes, to bring the crossbow around in a swing that landed on the side of the next vampire's head.  
Oz quickly crawled forward and touched Willow's shoulder first, and she drew in breath to shriek, then somehow, recognized his touch with that strange sense-sharing they had. He quickly cut her feet loose, then her hands, then crushed her in his arms, burying his face in her hair.  
"I don't mean to interrupt this tender moment," they heard Giles hiss, "but if you could take a moment to CUT ME LOOSE!"  
"Yeah, sure, Giles. No problem," Oz said. He dropped a quick kiss on Willow's head and eased her away. "Here," he said and held out a stake. Her eyes lit up, and she dove past him to grab the baseball bat. In one swift movement, she flowed to her feet and swung the baseball bat up like a golf club. She squarely caught the vampire guard on the chin as he rushed at her. The blow flipped him over backwards and the bat creaked ominously. Willow raised it and brought it down hard on the vampire's back. "I am sick of being knocked out and tied up!" she shrieked, hitting the vampire again. The bat cracked and splintered on the third hit. Almost as an afterthought, she used the jagged end of the bat to stake the vampire. She straighted up and blew the hair out of her eyes. She looked around. "Hey, you!" she shouted. "Yeah, you! 'Useless one,' huh? Come back here! I wanna talk to you!" She dashed off in pursuit.  
"Never," Oz said quietly as he cut Giles loose, "get her angry at you."  
"Yes, indeed," Giles said faintly. "I shall endeavor to remember that." Oz handed him one of the stakes and ran after Willow, who was still pelting after a vampire who had given up trying to fight and was now desperately trying to out-dodge her. Giles climbed to his feet, reflecting how much easier this had been when he was closer to Willow's age. A vampire loomed ahead of him, and suddenly disintegrated. A crossbow bolt fell to the ground on the pile of ashes.  
"That's the last of them." Xander put the crossbow aside. "C'mon, Cordy. Let's join the fun."  
"Fun?" she whimpered under her breath, but stood up. She had not ever figured out how the others managed to be brave enough to fight. She was so scared, she didnt think she could run down into the... war that was being fought a few yards away.  
Then she saw Xander stake one vampire. He lost hold of the stake and it scattered away in the near darkness. He searched desperately for it, but two more vampires were running at him. Before Cordelia could think, she grabbed two of the stakes from her little pile and ran down the hill. "Xander!' she shrieked, and when he turned, she tossed one of the stakes to him. He caught it neatly, and whirled, stabbing up and into the vampire's chest. The other one came up on his other side, but Cordelia threw herself at it, and somehow managed to ram the stake in it. They looked at each other through the floating ashes. "Thanks," Xander said softly.  
She tried to smile at him, and wasn't sure she succeeded, but he nodded and turned back to the battle.  
  
The _thing_ that had been Sarah, or maybe was Sarah still, somehow, underneath the cat-like body and fur, was mowing through the vampires as fast as they charged at her. Xander couldn't see that she had any stakes, but she seemed to be doing well without them. Occasionally, she would toss a vampire towards Buffy, and she would stake it in mid-air. Xander tried to angle closer, thinking to toss her his stake, when he realized her fighting was hampered by trying to keep the Orb safe in one of her clawed hands. She looked up at him, with eyes that were remarkably feline, but still with Sarah's expressions. Without thinking, he dropped the stake and held up his hands, catcher-style. Her eyes widened in relief and she threw the Orb.  
Giles shouted in pure libraian panto.  
Xander caught the Orb neatly, and held it up triumphantly. The move caught Trick's eyes, and he bellowed for someone to forget humans and to get the Orb.  
Xander suddenly found himself in the attention of ten vampires. He looked wildly at Cordelia and gently tossed the Orb to her, praying she'd catch it. "Nonononono!' she shrieked, but put her hands out and the Orb fell gently into them as if it had been guided. The pack of vampires veered her way. She screamed for Buffy, who looked up, and Cordelia threw. Buffy dropped the stakes in her hands and leaped up and caught the Orb. She landed and threw a kick that dropped the vampire nearest to her. She looked up, saw the pack, and saw Oz pitching water balloons into the melee. As a balloon would hit a vampire, Willow would dart out and stake it. Buffy shouted Oz's name. He looked at her and she threw the Orb to him. He tossed the balloon he was holding and caught the Orb.  
By the time the pack of vampires got past Buffy, they were whittled down in size by three bodies. One of them pointed at Oz, and they descended. Oz waited until the last moment, then threw the Orb over the pack's heads to Willow. She dropped the bat and caught it.  
The pack ran to Willow. Willow threw the ball back to Oz.  
The pack ran toward Oz. Oz held something round up and threw it in the middle of the swarm of vampires. They all clawed for it, not realizing it was a water balloon until it burst in the midst of them, spraying them all. Meanwhile, Oz threw the Orb to Buffy. She jumped and missed it. The vampire behind her caught it, and looked at it in his hand, surprised. Buffy staked him, then neatly plucked the Orb out of mid-air as ashes rained.  
The pack of holy-water-splashed vampires stopped in mid-run when they saw it was the Slayer who had the Orb. She grinned evilly. The vampire in the lead looked pleadingly at Trick, who angrily waved him on. The vampire must have decided he was more afraid of Trick than the Slayer, since he ran forward. The others followed him. Buffy glanced around for someone that was clear, then threw the Orb to Cordelia. Cordelia screamed, but caught it again. Then she screamed again when the pack gratefully swerved away from Buffy towards her. She frantically threw the Orb back to Buffy, but her throw went wild and over Buffy's head by several feet.  
Everyone on the field stopped and watched the Orb fly straight to Giles.  
"Oh, dear," they heard him say.  
Willow closed her eyes and wondered what the end of the world felt like.  
Giles tentatively held up his hands and the Orb fell neatly into them.  
He lowered his hands and looked at the Orb in disbelief. "I caught it," he called in delight.  
  
Seven vampires fell on top of him. The conglomerate of arms, legs, and fangs thrashed wildly, then rolled away, leaving Giles huddled in a ball behind them. He sat up and watched increduously as the ball of vampires rolled down the field.  
  
Trick watched them roll by in dumbfounded amazement. Then watched them roll back past him again. He walked over to Giles, who caught up a large tree branch. "Wait, man," the vampire said under the noise of the fighting. "Look, let's make a deal here. I'll let you go this time"  
Giles glared at him suspiciously over the tree branch. "And what's the other part of the deal?"  
The vampire looked at the rolling mass of vampires and winced. "We agree that this fight never happened." He sighed. "In fact, do whatever you want with them. They're too stupid to live. I should have let them die. The first time." He shook his head and walked away. "My head hurts..."  
Giles watched him leave, then turned and looked at the battlefield. Buffy was still staking, Oz and Willow were still pitching waterballoons, and Xander was gleefully darting around with one of the Super Soakers. "I can almost agree with him," he said wistfully and tossed the tree branch away. Buffy staked the last vampire near her and whirled around wildly. "I think it's just about over, Buffy," Giles called.  
She relaxed.  
The ball of vampires suddenly stopped rolling. "Hey, wait a minute," a voice floated out. "I dont think he's in here."  
The clump fell apart, and the five vampires left looked around bewilderedly into the faces of the five teenager surrounding them... grinning....  
  
*  
"I still can't believe you carried this out." Giles picked up another stake and added it to the pile in Willow's arms. "And to endanger the Orb like that, is just....just..."  
"Brilliant?" Buffy asked eagerly.  
"Well, yes, it is rather that, too." Giles stopped and stared at the crossbow Xander was holding. "Buffy, is that _my_ crossbow?"  
"No."  
Giles sighed in relief.   
"This is," Buffy said, holding up the crushed remains.  
Giles closed his eyes. "I am going home, now," he said faintly. "I am going to have a hot drink, and I am going to bed, and maybe when I wake up, this all would have been a bad dream."  
  
"Nah, just a normal day in the Hellmouth," Buffy chirped.   
  
"Hey, where's Sarah?" Willow asked.  
  



	9. Default Chapter Title

HOME IS WHERE YOU HANG YOUR CROSSBOW  
  
by Kamara  
  
stealthbunny@mns.com  
  
Chapter Nine  
  
The door opened almost immediately after Giles knocked on it. The room was dark beyond it; he wouldn't have even been able to see Sarah, if it wasn't for the streetlight behind him. As it was, all he could see was a general form, and the glitter of eyes. But it was a human form. Not that that helped his temper any.  
  
"I figured you'd be around sooner or later," she said softly. She walked away from him into the room, leaving the door open. "It was a little sooner than later, though."  
  
Giles let the door close behind him. The room was lit by candlelight, and the darkness swallowed him for a moment before his eyes adjusted. "You could at least turn the lights on," he said, and even he could hear the anger in his voice clipping his words short.  
  
She sighed. "The light hurts my eyes," she said. Then after another moment, she went to the kitchen and turned that light on. It spilled harshly into the room, and she edged away from it.  
  
"Are you afraid of me looking at you?" he asked sharply.  
  
He heard a rustling as she shook her head. "No. The light really does hurt. I'm not really meant for daylight anymore." She waited another moment, then sighed again and snapped the overhead light on.  
  
She looked different, but not all together so. It was the small details, only. Her fingernails were more like claws than nails, and he wondered how they could ever have missed her eyes. They were certainly not quite human. She had apparently just showered. Her hair was wrapped up in a towel, and she was wearing a faded grey shirt that came down over her knees over a pair of black leggings. Her feet were bare, and they were clawed too.   
  
Giles shook his head. "How could we not notice?"  
  
Her lips twitched slightly and she looked away. "There are different levels of the form. I could hide some of it, but it was hard. It's almost a relief to relax about it. Although, even relaxed about it, 1 can still pass in a crowd for human." She gestured at the light. "Do you mind if...?"  
  
"Go ahead."  
  
She switched the light off with a sigh of relief. "That's another thing that's hard about it. Trying to keep out of bright lights."  
  
"Were you planning on coming back at all, or were you just going to let them worry about you all night?" he asked.  
  
"No. No, I left a message on the machine at the library. And at Buffy's house. I just thought I'd better come home first."  
  
"They were panicked about you. They didn't know if you were hurt, or if you were captured, or if you were just playing games with them. They get enough of that, you know. It would help if they occasionally got some honesty, too, to balance it out. They really liked you, you know."  
  
"I was going right back to the library," she said, a twinge of defensive in her voice. "I rather thought some clothes would be a good idea first."  
  
He blinked. "Clothes?"  
  
"Yes, mine did rather take a beating," she said tightly. "I was also a bit messy, so I thought a shower was in good order, too. I didn't think getting to the library by dashing behind one tree to another would be very... efficient. Of course, this is Sunnydale. Maybe no one would even look twice."  
  
"You may be right on that. The people here are truly oblivious."  
  
A tea kettle began to whistle in the kitchen. It broke them both off short. Sarah let it scream for a moment before she went in after it. The squealing died to a whimper as she took it off the heat, and the apartment plunged into silence.  
  
She started through the normal routine of making tea, and it infuriated him that she would be acting so... so normal. "Were you even planning on telling us? Or were you just going to go on lying?"  
  
She poured hot water into to mugs, then carefully set t he tea kettle down. He didn't even hear it touch the countertop. "I never lied to any of you, Giles."  
  
"Then what do you call it?"  
  
She shook her head, then pulled the towel off, letting her mass of hair tumble down. "Did I ever tell you that 1 was not a demon? Didn't I tell you that most of us were not human?"  
  
"You still hid it from us."  
  
She looked at him then, green eyes flashing out of the jumble of hair. "You people kill things like me," she said softly. "Forgive me if I didn't want to advertise too loudly."  
  
He snorted. "Oh, come on. We've handled it before. Oz is a werewolf, for pity's sake."  
  
"Which I didn't know until tonight," she said just as softly. "You weren't very loud about advertising that, either." Her gaze fell on the two mugs, and she opened the cabinet in front of her and took down a tea ball. "You can have some of my blend of tea, if you like. Or just a generic tea bag if you don't trust it.."  
  
He saw her tea-making as an attempt to brush him off, and he snapped, "Damn it, I wish there was one woman around me that didn't lie to me."  
  
"I didn't lie!" she shouted, and her voice cracked on the last word. She fell silent, then put the tea ball in one mug and a Lipton's tea bag in the other. She poured hot water over them both and let the steam warm her face. "Giles," she asked softly, "how much of your anger is about me, and how much of it is about that computer teacher?"  
  
He had been about to say something else, equally as harsh, but that stopped him. "How did you know about that?" he asked, glowering at her.  
  
"Buffy called a few minutes ago." She stirred both tea cups, then handed the one with the tea bag to Giles. Out of a long-standing habit, he took it, without even really thinking about it. "She was pretty sure you were headed over here, and she seemed to think 1 needed to know a few things before you stormed in."  
  
"I did not storm," he found himself obliged to protest.  
  
"All right, so you blew in here with a light wind," she said lightly. "Buffy told me that your Ms. Calendar wasn't very upfront about herself to you either. And then she told me that she hid from you that Angel was alive. And she was... concerned."  
  
"About what?" he couldn't help but asking.  
  
She smiled slightly, staring down into her tea mug. "That you would burst in here, with your British stubbornness and say many things that you wanted to say, but perhaps not to me or because of me, but simply because 1 was a good enough target for all those recent hurts." She shrugged and blew on the tea for a moment before taking a sip. She closed her eyes in relief at the warmth of the liquid. He broke away from watching her and studied his own tea. "How did it happen?" he asked.  
  
She barked a sharp laugh. "How do these things ever happen? Wrong place, wrong time? Destiny? I don't know. Don't even care much anymore." She pushed gently past him and went to sit at the table. She picked up a pair of glasses frames, empty of lenses, and fingered them gently. "All I ever wanted to be was a singer. And a historian. That was all I wanted. Then this happened, and 1 lost everything, my studies, my family, my voice. Then there was Grey -- Patrick--, who made all of that worthwhile, as long as we were together and I lost him too. So my world is gone now. My life ended years ago. So you can be as angry at me as you want, whether its justified or not, and I really just don't care all that much. Not about what you think of me. But those kids of yours are incredible. I'm not a threat to you, but there's a lot of things out there that are. And hating me because of something someone else, or someone else did to you is wasting the energy you could be using to help them."  
  
"I don't need you to tell me how to do my job," he snapped.  
  
She looked up in surprise. "I wasn't really." Then she mentally replayed what she had just said. "Well, maybe I was. But 1 didn't mean to. I did handle this badly, and I'm sorry about that. But at the time, it was the only way I knew."  
  
Is there anything else you're hiding from us?" he asked evenly.  
  
She thought a moment, then shook her head. "No. Nothing that has anything to do with the Slayer, her Watcher, the Hellmouth, or any of the Slayerettes. If you want my life's history, you can have it, but it will most likely take the rest of the night, and I'm tired." She went back to her tea, sipping slowly, here gaze fixed on those glasses. Giles wondered what they meant to her, what she saw when she looked at them. After a long moment, he took the other chair. To fill the silence, he drank his own tea.  
  
Sarah shoved her empty cup aside, and leaned down to rest her head on her arms. "Hell of a night, huh?" she asked.  
  
He smiled in spite of himself. "I would say so, yes." He handed his cup back to her. "Thank you... Sarah," he said quietly. "I am cold, and damp, and my head hurts. And even though revealing the Orb undoubtedly saved my life, and Willow's, it's now known that we have it. And its more urgent than ever that I finish that translation." He turned to leave, then stopped at the door. "I will be back at the library tomorrow morning. We could use help with the research... if you'd like to come."  
  
"Thank you, Giles," she said softly, with a touch of surprise.  
  
"Don't thank me," he said shortly. "We need the help. But it doesn't change anything 1 said, or what 1 think about you right now. Now, I've got to get some sleep. You should do the same, or you'll be no help at all tomorrow." He closed the door behind him and walked briskly down the walk, in not much of a better mood than he had been in when he had walked up it.  
  
*  
  
"So what d'ya think?" Buffy asked.  
They were all arranged sitting on the staircase in the library the next morning. Buffy was on the uppermost step, then Willow and Oz, snuggled together two steps below her, then Cordelia and Xander on the lowest steps, sitting across from each other.  
  
"She's cool," Oz said with a shrug. "She helped save Willow, which is definitely cool."  
  
Willow nodded enthusiastically. "Definitely high on the cool meter." she agreed.  
  
Cordelia glanced up from filing her nails. "I really don't see what all the fuss is about. We deal with Oz, after all."  
  
Oz and Willow exchanged glances. Buffy could swear a whole conversation went between them during that one look. Then Willow rested her head against Oz again. "Giles isn't too happy, though, is he?" she asked.  
  
"Do you blame him?" Xander said. "After all, he gets enough surprises from the Hellmouth. You expect him not to react when it comes from his own side?"  
  
"Giles is Giles," Buffy said after a moment's thought. "Hell be in a pissy mood, but he'll have himself convinced he's hiding it and no one will notice."  
  
"Great," Xander muttered. "Well, our next few days are going to be pleasant. I look forward to it as much as Cordelia's family reunion."  
  
"I told you, you didn't have to come," Cordelia said in exasperation.  
  
"And I thank you for the glorious reprieve," Xander answered smoothly. "Any chance we can get such a reprieve, saving us from miffed English Librarians?"  
  
"If there is, I haven't figured it out yet," Buffy told him. "Besides, if I have to suffer, so do you."  
  
"So much for sneaking out without being noticed," Xander sighed. "So we decided that this Sarah chick is cool, even if she turns into a cat from Hell?"  
  
"What do you have against shape-changing?" Ox asked.  
  
"Maybe I should just stay out of this conversation entirely," Xander said.  
  
"That would be a first." Cordelia murmured.  
  
"I am going to show great restraint and not respond to that." Xander said with dignity. "But whatever we decide to do, we better decide real quick, because she just walked in."  
  
As one, they all looked up. Sarah had been walking across the library toward them, but she stopped warily, and a fight-or-flight reaction flittered across her face.  
  
After a moment of hesitation from both sides of the library, Oz leaned forward and touched Willow's shoulder. She smiled up at him and moved so he could stand up. He went down the rest of the stairs, careful not to step on anyone, and walked over to Sarah, his hands jammed in his pockets. "Why don't we start over again?" he suggested. He held out his hand. "Hi. I'm Oz. I'm a werewolf."  
  
A slow smile began to grow into life on Sarah's face. She took his hand. "I'm Sarah. But I'm usually called The Cat. I'm a half-demon."  
  
Willow had come over to. stand next to Oz. "I'm Willow," she said in the bubbling way she had that made Oz beam adoringly at her. "I'm a novice witch."  
  
Buffy bounced down the stairs. "Hi," she said with a grin. "I'm Buffy. The Vampire Slayer."  
  
"And I'm Xander, Wisecracker Extraordinaire."  
  
"I am not playing this game." Cordelia hadn't moved from the stairs. "She knows who 1 am." But she smiled pleasantly and nodded at Sarah.  
  
"We're not sure just what she is," Xander said, gesturing at Cordelia, "but we let her hang around with us, anyway."  
  
A purse came flying from the general direction of the staircase and smacked Xander on the back of his head.  
  
"If you are quite finished destroying my library... again," Giles walked up to the table and put a box of books on it, "there are a few more boxes out in the car, that need to be brought in."  
  
"I think we've just been volunteered, guys," Oz said.  
  
"Well, it's definitely a job for you male types," Cordelia said. "I might break a nail, and 1 just finished doing them this morning."  
  
The purse flew back and smacked her shoulder. She glared at Xander.  
  
"I don't care who does it, as long as they are in here in the next ten minutes," Giles said testily. He glanced once at Sarah, then turned and went into his office.  
  
"Oh, yeah," Xander said. "It's going to be a real fun day."  
  
"C'mon," Buffy said pulling him to the door. "Before you make it any worse."  
  
"Me?" Xander yelped. "Why is it always my fault?"  
  
"And do you think you can do it with a minimal amount of noise, for once?" Giles snapped from his office.  
  
Xander started to retort, but Cordelia and Buffy each grabbed one of his arms and dragged.  
  
Oz looked over at Willow. She cocked one eyebrow, and he smiled and nodded. "I'll go help the others," he said, and followed.  
  
Sarah had turned to go, too, but Willow popped in front of her. "Umm... do you... have a minute?"  
  
"Sure," she said. As one, they glanced at the office door. Willow nodded upstairs with an inquiring expression, and Sarah nodded in agreement. They went upstairs and sat down on the floor, facing each other, between two rows of books.  
  
Willow stared at her feet, nervously twisting her fingers around each other. "Well, um... I ... um... couldn't help but notice you last night. You know, doing that cat thing. And don't get me wrong," she said quickly. "I think it's cool. Cool being my word for today. But, I mean, last night wasn't a full moon, so I... well, we, actually, Oz and I, I mean, wondered how you were able to control it."  
  
Sarah stared at her in confusion until her mind had a chance to run a couple of replays. "Oh, you mean, am I a were-thingie?"  
  
"Um hmm." She nodded eagerly. "I mean, if you can control it out of the moon phases, could you teach Oz?"  
  
Sarah shook her head ruefully. "Sorry, kiddo, it's not the same type of thing. As near as I can understand lycanthropy, it's a condition, not a becoming."  
  
It was Willow's turn to look confused.  
  
"Let me try again." Sarah thought a moment, then leaned forward. "Oz developed lycanthropy. I became a demon."  
  
"Oh," Willow said softly. "So he can't control it like you do?"  
  
"I'm not really in control of it," Sarah said slowly. "See, I'm not mostly human and a little bit demon. It's the other way around. If I dropped the control I have, I would revert to demon. There's another difference between me and Oz. Oz defaults to human. I default to demon."  
  
"Oh." Willow digested that for a moment. "Well, I really don't mind. I mean, it makes him special, doesn't it?"  
  
Sarah looked at her in surprise, then smiled affectionately. "Someone said that about me, a long time ago. I didn't believe it then, and it always separated us. And now, it's too late."   
  
She squeezed Willow's foot comfortingly. "Don't let it do the same to you two."  
  
She nodded happily. "Yeah, I know."  
  
A jumble of voices downstairs announced the return of a small mob. "We'd better go help." Sarah said, climbing to her feet.  
  
"Um..." Willow said, "you know Oz would have asked you himself, but he's like... a guy..."  
  
"And they don't like to admit to soul-searching," Sarah finished. "Don't worry about it. I used to be the one elected to ask the uncomfortable questions, too."  
  
"Honestly, Giles," Buffy was saying as they came downstairs, "is your attic just wall to wall books?"  
  
"Not quite," Giles said, opening one box. "Only about two thirds of it."  
  
Buffy stared at him blankly. "I was joking," she finally said.  
  
He allowed a smile to steal across his face as he lifted a stack of books out of the box. "So was I." He handed the stack to Xander. "These boxes have to be sorted through. I know there are some on talismans, but I wasn't sure what boxes they were in. So I brought them all."  
  
"Oh, joy." Cordelia said tonelessly.  
  
Giles pushed a box across the study table to Sarah. "I know you said your Latin was a bit rusty, but if you could page through these? If you find a reference, I can do the actual translation." His voice was very carefully neutral Buffy recognised it as the one he used when talking about Angel.  
  
Sarah took the box. "Sure," she said in a matching tone. "I think I can handle that." She took the box over to one of the largest of the reading chairs. She settled into it sideways, her knees folded against one of the chair arms and her back against the other. She picked a book out of the box randomly and began to scan through it.  
"Well, go on," Giles said, shoving boxes at each of them. "I need to work on that translation." He handed the last box to Cordelia, who muttered something about dust, and went into his office without saying anything else.  
  
Xander and Willow gave Buffy matching looks. "Ah, cmon, guys," she said in a low voice. "I dealt with the last miff."  
  
"He's your Watcher, Buff," Xander said cheerfully. "Besides, you were the one who didn't let us escape."  
  
Buffy made a face at him and reluctantly walked into the office. She took a deep breath and leaned against his desk.  
  
Giles spent a few seconds trying to ignore her, then gave up. "What is it, Buffy? I'm busy."  
  
"Settle a bet for me," she chirped. "I'm betting you burst in there last night, full of righteous indignation at being wrongs, and she barely reacted. Am I right?"  
  
Giles pushed his chair away from his desk, taking his glasses off and dropping them on the pages of the book. "Really, Buffy this isn't something I wish to disc--"  
  
"Didn't she?" Buffy pressed.  
  
Giles deflated. "Yes," he said in a sulky voice.  
  
"I think she has more on her mind then whether or not you're pissed," Buffy said gently.   
"And in care you didn't notice, she saved your life last night."  
  
Giles glared at his desk. "I am aware of that," he said tightly.  
  
"Then get over it, Giles," she said, but patted his shoulder to take the sting out of her words. "We're cool with it. And you know you're not being angry on our behalf anyway. So go back to what you do best and figure out that funny language."  
  
"It's Latin, Buffy."  
  
"Like I said," she agreed. "You think you can get through the rest of the day without taking out heads off?"  
  
"I think I can manage that." he said carefully.  
  
"Good." She made a face. "Guess I'd better get back to work, huh?"  
  
"Yes. I think you probably should." he said gently and smiled fondly after her as she left. Buffy really did have a knack for putting complicated matters into as simple terms as possible, and therefore coming directly to the point. It was something he had never been very good at.  
  
His eyes fell on the books in front of him. "Funny language, indeed," he said softly and with a certain amount of affection. He put his glasses on and went back to what he did best.  
  
  



	10. Default Chapter Title

HOME IS WHERE YOU HANG YOUR CROSSBOW  
  
by Kamara  
  
stealthbunny@msn.com  
  
Chapter 10  
  
"You know," Cordelia said hours later as she rubbed her tired eyes, "there's no in- between in this. We're either out risking our lives, or in here, dying of boredom." She pushed her books away and pillowed her head on her folded arms. Xander thoughtfully reached over and massaged her neck. "It must be a beautiful day out there somewhere," she said wistfully.  
  
The library was hot and a little stuffy. They had propped open the doors, but the hall was hot and stuffy, too, so it wasn't much help. Willow had fallen asleep in her book, and Sarah was asleep in her chair. Oz looked like he wished he was asleep, and Buffy had just plain given up and was doing her history homework for entertainment.  
  
"We're pretty pathetic." Xander agreed.  
  
"I don't have to be," Cordelia said mournfully. "I was popular. I could be out shopping, or something. Anything."  
  
"Wicked, wicked vampires for inflicting this on you." Xander closed his book. She scooched her chair over and rested against him. Xander breathed in the scent of her shampoo, enjoying one of her rare moments of affection in public.  
  
Sarah sat up with a sudden jerk and intake of breath, startling those who were still awake. She looked wildly, then seemed to recognize where she was. "You okay?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Nightmare," she said shortly, rubbing her eyes.  
  
"But it's daytime," Xander said sleepily. "What would you call it, then? A daymare?"  
  
"Reality," Sarah said bitterly. She looked at the book in her lap, then sighed and stood up to stretch. She looked over at the table, where Oz had joined the ranks of the sleeping.   
  
"God, I miss coffee," she said.  
  
"Giles has tea," Buffy suggested.  
  
"I don't think he needs to be bothered." Sarah paced the library once, then stopped by a window. "I didn't realize it was getting so late."  
"And we still haven't found anything yet." Buffy stared in dismay at the two boxes they hadn't even opened yet. "Is this Orb thingie really so rare? The only thing we've found so far is that Latin stuff."  
  
"Toads! All of them into toads!" Willow giggled in her sleep.  
  
"I think all this research has popped her brain," Xander observed. Cordelia didn't even look up, and Buffy suspected she had gone to sleep too.  
  
Sarah wandered back to the table and looked around it. Xander and Buffy were the only ones awake, and Xander not by much. She drummed her fingers on the table surface for a moment, then sighed and walked over to Giles' office. She knocked on the door frame and went in.  
  
Giles glanced up at her, then down at his book. "There's tea, if you'd like some." he said grudgingly.  
  
She went to the tea kettle and found a clean cup. "They're dropping like flies out there."  
  
"Hmm?" He looked up again.  
  
She poured hot water over the tea bag. "They fought late last night and were here first thing this morning. How much sleep do you think any of them got? Not counting the last couple of hours, anyway."  
  
Giles looked at his watch and winced. He took off his glasses and rubbed his face. "It is getting rather late, isn't it?"  
  
Sarah blew on the tea to cool it slightly. "Were you able to find anything?" she asked, nodding at the book and notepad that was covered with scribbled notes.  
  
Giles snorted. "I found out what color it is, what color it is when it glows, that it glows when it senses magic, who created it, and that it has been unheard of for the last century."  
  
"But not what it does."  
  
"No. Some vague references, but it is mostly a history of who has owned it since its creation. The whole text is cross-referenced to the first volume of this book, which, unfortunately, has not existed since.... oh, around the turn of the century. I was only able to find the second volume in a collectors book store about ten years ago out of sheer luck." He shook his head ruefully. "Truth to tell, I had almost forgotten I had it at all. It has never been very useful."  
  
"And still isn't," she murmured.  
  
"Yes, well, I'm afraid I have to concur on that."  
  
She sipped at her tea. "You said last night that you think they'll come after the Orb, now that they know we have it?"  
  
Giles sat back in his chair. "It rather stands to reason, doesn't it? Trick apparently knew more about it than we did, although that was a nice job of bluffing on your part. Once again, we're about five steps behind them."  
  
"You're lucky," she said into her mug. "I think we're usually at least six steps behind. What's the chances that Trick was bluffing, too?"  
  
Giles looked at her, meeting her gaze for the first time all day. "You mean, perhaps they don't know what it does either? I don't think we can rely on that hope."  
  
"Probably not," she agreed. "But it would he nice for once. Look, it's starting to get dark out. How safe are those kids going to be if they're walking home after dark, with Trick just looking for more hostages?"  
  
"You want to send them home?"  
  
She shrugged. "You know them best. But if they were mine, I probably would. I'd like to think they were home safe before the vampires start roaming, especially if they are prime targets."  
  
"Buffy can take care of herself."  
  
"I wasn't talking about just Buffy."  
  
"No, you weren't, were you?" He smiled slightly. "Are any of them still awake?"  
  
She grinned. "Those that were when I came in, looked like they wouldn't be for long."  
  
"Yes, well... since they're not getting any researching done anyway, you may be right." He stood up, but stopped at the door, looking back at her. "You do understand, that they are not just soldiers to me."  
  
"Yes, I do," she said gently.  
  
He went out and less than a minute later, Cordelia, Xander, and Buffy bolted past the office door on their way out of the library.  
  
"I can stay longer," she heard Willow protesting as she came out.  
  
"All things considered," Giles answered, "I think everyone getting a good night's sleep for once will be beneficial."  
  
"But you're staying, aren't you?" Willow asked. "And you, too, aren't you, Sarah?"  
  
"Yes, but we're old and are used to going without sleep," Sarah managed to say with a straight face.  
  
"Well... I'm... I'm young, and I can go with less sleep." Willow truly looked wounded. Oz patted her shoulder. "Look, I can help."  
  
"I know you can, Willow," Giles said soothingly.  
  
"I don't want to be helpless again," she burst out, then looked away, biting her lip.  
  
Giles was quiet for a moment. "Yes. I can understand that," he said softly.  
  
She brightened. "Then I can stay?"  
  
"Wait, just a moment," he said and walked through the library, collecting books. When he had a good armful, he brought them back to Willow. "I will loan these to you, and you can study them in the comfort of your home. They are beginning spell books. Just promise me you won't try any of these, until we talk them over first. And promise me that you'll take good care of them."  
  
Willow smiled sadly. "But I still can't stay, can I?"  
  
"Call it a compromise," he said with a smile of his own.  
  
Oz took the majority of the books from her. "Come on, babe. Well get a pizza on the way, and I'll help you study."  
  
"I won't get anything done if you help," she said, then blushed.  
  
"You're good with them," Sarah said softly as the couple left, their heads close together as they walked.  
  
"Not if you listen to Buffy." Giles started to place the already-read books in the empty boxes. "But they have become... rather like family."  
  
She began filling another box. "Yes. I had one of those once, too."  
  
"What happened to them?"  
  
"Half of them are dead," she said shortly.  
"Hazard of the business," he answered softly.  
  
She rubbed her face. "Yeah, but you chose it. I didn't."  
  
"I couldn't really escape it, either. It's in the bloodlines." He folded the flaps over, closing the box. "Are you staying, or do you want to get home before dark as well?"  
  
She smiled bitterly at him, and he caught a glimpse of her fangs. She picked up another book and settled down in her chair again. He watched her for a minute, then went back to his translating.  
  
They both were so deep in their work that neither of them noticed time passing. Giles finally came out a few hours later. "Anything?"  
  
"Not yet." She shook her head. "This is so frustrating. There's less on this stuff than there is on the early middle ages. At least when I did my research back in school, I could find sources."  
  
"It is aggravating," he agreed. "I've spent all evening going through the Watchers Journals, but I haven't found any mention there either. I'm beginning to wonder if maybe the Orb is known under another more common name, and we're missing it."  
  
Sarah tossed her book aside with a grimace. "Which means we'd have to start all over again. Giles, the kids'd kill us if we made them go through this again."  
  
He smiled. "I think you underestimate them. They complain, but they've never given up. Anyway, I think I'm calling a break. I seem to have worked through lunch and not realized it, but I don't think I'll be able to do the same with dinner--"  
  
The school doors flew open with enough force that they could hear the doors rebounding off the walls even from the library. Feet pounded down the hall and Cordelia flew into the library. "You have to come, Giles!" she said hoarsely, panting for breath.  
  
"Good heavens." He stepped towards her, hand held out in concern. "What's happened, Cordelia?"  
  
She caught his hand and tugged nervously. "But--"  
  
"Just calm down," he said soothingly, "and tell us what's wrong."  
  
"Well," she started, then took a deep breath. "Okay, we decided to help Buffy patrol tonight. Well, actually, it wasn't 'we'. I didn't want to, but Xander said it would only be an hour, and then--"  
  
"Yes, yes," Giles said impatiently. "Go on."  
"So there we were patrolling, and like, the whole town was deserted. Not a vampire in sight. And I'm thinking this is a good thing, but Buffy seemed kind of freaked out by it. She was sure she'd find some sort of activity after last night. Which is why we all decided to go with her tonight, in case she needed help. Or rather, they decided, and I got dragged along, and--"  
  
"Cordelia, get to the point," Giles said through gritted teeth.  
  
"Oh. Right. Anyway, she decided she'd come back here, just to make sure you were all right, after you being grabbed last night. She thought maybe it was quiet because they were after you again, 'cause you know about all this weird stuff and all."  
"Cordelia!" Giles grated.  
  
"I'm getting to it," she said indignantly. "Who's telling this anyway? So, there were no vampires around anywhere because they were all here. We walked in on them all, and kind of surprised each other. And there's a lot of them, so I thought I'd better run for help, since I'm not good at fighting and all. " She jittered in agitation. "Hurry! We have to get back and help Xander. And, I guess, the others, of course."  
  
"Where?" Giles thundered.  
  
"Oh," she said, as if it was obvious. "The football field."  
  
"Go," Giles snapped. Sarah bolted, dragging Cordelia around with her. "Show me," she snapped, and pushed Cordelia ahead of her.  
  
Cordelia dragged her heels. "Giles," she wailed, "bring something -- oh, I don't know! Something mean!" Then she let Sarah pull her out the door. Sarah had been fuming about having to go at Cordelia's pace, then suddenly found out that Cordelia's pace was certainly not slow. Once she started, the pretty brunette could certainly run, and Sarah wondered how much else she had missed under the teen's tendency to fuss.  
  
They ran through the halls, Cordelia taking the quickest way possible. She hit the doors at the same run as she had the front doors, not stopping to see if Sarah made it through without the door rebounding in her face.  
  
Cordelia wheeled to a stop on the other side of the rear parking lot. Sarah nearly piled into her before she could stop. "What is it?" she hissed.  
  
"Go!" Cordelia gave her a shove. "There's a shortcut, down that path and through those trees. I have an idea." Then she turned and ran the other direction, one that would take her around further to the front entrance to the field. She ran up the stairs to the control room and leaned on the door for a second, breathing heavily. "Please let it be unlocked. please, please," she chanted. She tried the door, and of course, it was locked. "Damn," she wailed. "Of all the times for them not to be careless!" She pressed her forehead against the cold glass of the door's window, and closed her eyes, still trying to catch her breath.  
  
Then she opened her eyes and gazed thoughtfully at the window. It was plain glass, without any reinforcement.  
  
Cordelia held her breath for a moment. She had always tried very hard not to get into trouble, unless it was something that would increase her popularity. She hadn't even had detention in a couple of years. Especially since she now hung out with known troublemakers, she tried tremendously hard not to do anything that would put her under the eyes of school authority.  
  
She could hear yelling from down in the field. Then Xander's voice rose clearly over the rest, just for a brief second, and she whirled around, picked up a nearby fire extinguisher, and without another thought, she calmly pitched it through the window. She carefully reached in, unlocked the door, and ran to the control panel. "Which one is it?" she muttered to herself. She had dated a boy a while back who had run the sound system, and he had once given her a tour, including showing her how to operate the system.  
Of course, she had been much more interested in making out than in such boring details.   
  
She had broken up with him shortly after that.  
  
She leaned forward, studying the panels and buttons. "Doesn't anyone believe in labels?" she complained. She looked out the large display window, her gaze singling out Xander. She bit her lip and punched several buttons at random, and the huge flood lights flared on, drenching the entire field with intense light. Vampires screeched as the, light seared their nocturnal eyes.  
  
Sarah had rocketed out onto the field and was lunging at the nearest vampire when the lights burst on. She screamed in pain, her hands going to her eyes, and the vampire clawed blindly at her. She had still been lunging forward and she hurtled heavily against the ground. The vampire blinked furiously, then as its eyes slowly began to adjust, it stepped forward to Sarah, who was curled in a blind huddle. It homed in on her more by scent than sight, and it was only a few feet away when a crossbow bolt ripped through its chest. Ashes whirled, and Giles knelt next to Sarah. "Are you hurt?"  
  
"My eyes," she gasped. She tried to open them, but tears streamed down her face. She pawed at them. "I can't see!"  
  
Giles remembered how she had avoided the light in her apartment, and he realized that the field lighting must be excruciating. "All right, just stay down and out of the way." He quickly loaded the crossbow. He had only had enough time to grab a handful of bolts. "They'll grow used to the light quickly enough. It's really only sunlight that's deadly to them." He wasn't sure if she had heard him, or if she even cared. She had curled back into her tight ball. It must be terrifying, he thought as he shot again and bent to reload, to be blinded and helpless while a fight rages around you.  
  
He shot again at a vampire that had regained enough vision to see them. The shot missed, and there was no time to reload. Unconsciously imitating Buffy's move, he swung the crossbow and hit the vampire squarely in its face. The crossbow splintered, and the vampire went down. In a smooth move, Giles reversed the wooden stock of the crossbow and -staked the vampire with it. He looked in dismay at the shattered crossbow. "We go through too many of these bloody things," he muttered and tossed it aside. The only other weapon he had managed to grab on the way out had been his quarterstaff, still left in the library from Buffy's practice session. He knocked a vampire's feet out from under it, then swung the staff around and caught another under its chin. Its head jerked back, and he heard bones snap. In a sudden, still moment, he fished a stake out of his pocket and staked them both.  
  
He smiled tightly. Sometimes, it was just so good to get out of the library.  
  
Cordelia watched from up in the control room. "You're safe here," she murmured to herself "You aren't a fighter. You won't be any help down there. Just stay here where it's safe." Nervously, she gathered her hair and twisted it up in a knot at the back of her neck. She found a hair pin in her jacket pocket and ran it through the bun. "Safe," she murmured again. "... oh, hell..." She ran out and down the stairs before she could change her mind. She ran onto the field and caught up the abandoned crossbow. She struggled with it for a second until she held it as a makeshift club, like she had seen Giles do, and flung herself at the vampire Xander was fighting. She swung the crossbow around clumsily and clouted the vampire on the side of its head. It snarled at her, and that gave Xander enough of an opening to lunge in and stake it. He grinned at her in admiration. "I'm dating one brave lady!"  
  
"Then follow my example and do something," she wailed, pointing behind him. He whirled and ducked the vampire's first swing. As he came up from the duck, he drew and fired his Super Soaker into the vampire's face. It was the diluted holy water, and the last of it. The vampire frantically wiped its face with the tail of its shirt, while Xander putted just as frantically at his pockets.  
  
"Stake it!" Cordelia screamed.  
  
"I don't have another stake," he shouted and searched the ground for the stake he had dropped, a stick, chopsticks, anything made of wood.  
  
Cordelia darted in with the remains of the wooden crossbow stock, but it had lost its jagged end, and she didn't have the strength to ram it hard enough. The vampire wrestled it away and, clawed at her face, ripping into her cheek. She screamed in fear, stumbling a few steps. Then she saw the blood streaming off her, splattering to the ground, and she touched her face with shaking fingers and touched only warm and wet and rawness. The world tilted, and he stomach lurched in fear, and then the pain hit, as if the whole side of her face was on fire. She fell to her knees, screaming.  
  
The vampire smelled the blood, and its eyes glowed yellow. It grabbed Cordelia's hair, pulling her head back, and then Xander smashed a rock the size of his head between the vampire's shoulders. It snarled again and pushed Cordelia away. Xander threw the rock at it and tried to pull Cordelia to her feet, but the vampire dodged the rock and moved in on them. It raised the crossbow stock above its head, and Xander had nothing else to block the blow, so he threw up his arm and beard it snap when the stock hit his forearm. Before he could cry out in pain, Cordelia had lunged to her feet. She pulled the wooden hairpin out of her hair and went after the vampire in a screeching fury, armed with a piece of wood the size of a pencil. The vampire stepped back quickly just from the sheer fury of her attack and. tripped over the rock Xander had thrown. It went down, and Cordelia flung herself at it and rammed the tiny spike into its chest. It evaporated into ashes.  
Her face really began to hurt then, and she fell, cupping her fingers over her face and trying not to look at the blood that covered them.  
  
Xander staggered over to her and gathered her into his good arm. "Did I say brave?" he asked in a choked voice. "It was definitely an understatement." He helped her to her feet and pulled her over to the stands, where they could hide under the bleachers. He took off his flannel shirt, easing it over his broken arm, then held the fabric tightly against her cheek, trying to stop the bleeding. She clung to him, gasping sobs. "Don't worry, Cordy," he said helplessly. "Well get you out of this."  
  
Buffy, Willow, and Oz had formed a triangle and had been fighting together. Buffy had been trying to take the brunt of the fighting, but the vampires just kept swarming until she had all she could do just to stay alive. Her heart screamed inside once at leaving her friends to fight for themselves, but then she iced it down, narrowing her world down to killing and killing again, locking down whatever there was of Buffy and letting the Slayer take over.  
  
Oz and Willow were backed against the giant cushions for the pole vault. Willow handed her stake to Oz. "Keep them off me." she shouted.  
  
"What are you doing?"  
She shook her head angrily. "Just keep them away from me!"  
  
"What do you think I'm trying to do?" he shot back, but he stepped to stand in front of her. The vampires mostly had focused on the Slayer and Giles, as the most recognizable of them all, but there were still more coming at him in a steady flow. Behind him, he heard Willow rustling papers, then muttering under her breath. He couldn't tell if he couldn't understand her because he couldn't concentrate on her, or if she was speaking a language he didn't understand, but the hair on the back of his neck bristled, and he knew she was trying something magical. He wanted to turn and tell her to stop, that she wasn't ready to cast any serious spells, and they would fight their way out of this the normal way, but another vampire ran at him, and he had to protect Willow. Her muttering rose to chanting, then to shouting in a loud ringing voice that was nothing like Willow's soft spoken tone.   
  
Then, there was more light behind him than could possibly come from the overhead lights.  
Giles suddenly bellowed, "Buffy, Oz, get down!"  
  
Neither of them took the time to look. Out of pure trust in Giles, they both dropped to the ground.  
  
It saved their lives.  
  
The glow around Willow grew larger, and so bright that Oz buried his face in his arms against the earth, and still the light flowed into his closed eyes. He heard the sparking and showering of broken glass as the overhead lights began to shatter. Under the bleachers, Xander covered Cordelia's head, pressing his own face into her hair. The wind and the glow wailed around them, and he thought he could hear a vampire scream, a high pitched, inhuman sound, but the air itself felt inhuman, and he held onto Cordelia tightly, afraid that if he loosened his grip at all, she would be sucked away into that glow.  
  
Then Willow's voice rose again, over the unnatural sound and light, in one last incomprehensible word, and the world went dark and silent in such a sudden second, that Xander thought that they finally had done something that really did cause the end of the world.  
  
Giles sat up cautiously. He touched Sarah lightly on her shoulder, and she began to uncurl, blinking furiously, trying to clear the spots out of her eyes. He didn't look at her; his eyes singled out the blonde girl picking herself up warily and looking around.  
  
There wasn't a vampire in sight. And the tip of each blade of grass except for where each of them hid been laying was singed black.  
  
Oz rolled over and looked for Willow, half afraid that what he would find wouldn't be the petite redhead, but something that was huge and powerful enough to create such a spell. But Willow smiled at him in the light of the one floodlight that was left sputtering, and it was the same Willow he loved and adored. He stretched out his hand to her, and she reached out to him, and then crumpled into a motionless heap on the grass.  
  



	11. Default Chapter Title

HOME IS WHERE YOU HANG YOUR CROSSBOW  
  
by Kamara  
stealthbunny@msn.com  
  
Chapter Eleven  
  
  
Oz patted Willow's face. "What'd she do?"  
  
"I don't know," Buffy said in concern. "I didn't actually see it."  
  
They heard Giles saying, "I thought you were here to be useful."  
  
"Excuse me if things went a little unpredictable for a few minutes," Sarah snarled.  
  
Buffy raised her voice. "Guys? If you're through ignoring us, we have people hurt here."  
  
Giles and Sarah shot each other glowering looks, but hurried over. Giles knelt by Willow. "Is she all right?"  
  
"That's what we were about to ask you," Buffy said tightly.  
  
Giles carefully felt around Willow's head. "I don't feel anything, and she's not bleeding. I don't think anything physically knocked her out."  
  
"Backlash from the spell?" Sarah suggested. She was still blinking furiously, shaking her head occasionally.  
  
"I can't tell for sure, not here, in any case." Giles glanced up. "Is anyone else hurt?"  
  
"Hey, I'm the Slayer. No problem," Buffy chirped, but she had a bruise on her temple that was starting already to spread.  
  
"Yeah, well we're not that lucky," Xander said.  
  
"Good Lord," Giles said softly. Cordelia's face was a mess of matted hair and blood.  
  
"Her eyes are all right," Xander said quickly. "But her face..." He hesitated. Buffy tried to push Cordelia's hair back for a better look, but Cordelia flinched away.  
  
"You don't look too good, either," Oz observed, looking at Xander.  
  
"Oh, yeah," Xander said. "I think we can safely say I'm in major ouch, here."  
  
"Another trip to the emergency room," Buffy sighed. She practically knew the interns on a first-name basis.  
  
Sarah nodded at Willow. "You know if it's backlash, the doctors aren't going to be able to do much more than declare her in a coma."  
  
"And it will be harder for us to help her magically if she's in Intensive Care," Giles agreed.  
  
"But what if it's a concussion, or she really is in a coma?" Oz brushed Willow's hair away from her eyes.  
  
"Unless we want to he talking to police," Buffy said, "we'd better get somewhere else. Look, no one's bleeding to death. Let's get somewhere and evaluate."   
  
Xander started to protest, but Buffy waved her arm at the field. "Do you really want to spend your convalescence in jail for major vandalism?"  
  
"Let's just get out of here," Cordelia said softly, and they all looked at her in surprise. "Please." Her voice shook, and Xander put his unbroken arm around her shoulders.  
  
"If Cordy's willing to break instead of waiting for an ambulance, I am, too," he said. But the minute we get someplace safer than here, we get her to a hospital."  
  
"Indeed," Giles said. "Cordelia, can you walk?"  
  
"I'll run if it gets me away from here," she bit out.  
  
Right on cue, they heard police sirens. "My place is closest," Sarah said, looking towards the direction of the sirens nervously.  
  
"Right." Giles scooped Willow in his arms. "Lead the way, then," he said briskly.  
  
Oz strode next to Giles, his eyes not leaving Willow's still face. "C'mon, babe," he said softly. "You'll be just fine. Giles always figures something out."  
  
Oz has more faith in Giles than Giles does, Giles reflected. He glanced down at Willow's pale face. Let's hope his faith isn't misplaced.  
  
Sarah brought them around to the door of her apartment, then stopped shortly. "Damn."  
  
"What now?" Giles snapped.  
  
"My keys are in my jacket pocket. Back at the library."  
  
"Well, you've been just too bloody useful this evening, haven't you?" Giles said angrily.  
  
Sarah shot him a look that probably should have terrified him, if he wasn't so angry. Without another word, she put her fist through the window.  
  
"There seems to be a lot of that going around," Cordelia said weakly.  
  
"And there goes your security deposit," Xander observed.  
  
Sarah ignored him and crawled through the window. A few seconds later, she opened the door. Giles pushed by her and gently laid Willow on the couch. Oz knelt on the floor and took her hand.  
  
"Will she be all right?" Xander asked, looking over at her in concern.  
  
Sarah leaned over and gently felt Willow's head, then turned her face one way, then the other. "I think you're right, Giles. There's no sign she's taken a knock on the head. I think it is backlash."  
  
"But will she he all right?" Xander repeated, louder this time.  
  
"She should be, once she wakes up. The hard part will be waking her up." Giles looked at Sarah. "I've never done this," he confessed. "I know the basic theory, but if you have any experience in this, I'd rather you do it."  
  
Sarah chewed her lower lip. She glanced at Xander and Cordelia. "How are you two doing?"  
  
"I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not feeling too great," Xander said sharply. Then he sighed and closed his eyes. "But I'll live," he said lightly. "And Cordelia has stopped bleeding. Can you help Willow?"  
Sarah took a deep breath, held it, then glanced at Giles. "No," she said finally.  
  
"Damn," Giles bit out.  
  
"But I know someone who can." She reached across the couch and picked up the phone. She punched in a number, then waited, then another and hung up.  
  
"That's it?" Oz asked.  
  
"Beeper." Sarah came over and knelt in front of Cordelia, who had sunk to the floor. "You'd better let me look at it," she said gently.  
  
Cordelia took a breath and nodded, before she realised how much nodding would hurt. Sarah pushed her hair away from her face. "It's not as bad as it must feel," she said after a moment. "If you want, we can get you to a hospital now. But the person coming is a healer, and I think she'll be able to help you. You, too," she nodded at Xander.  
  
He crouched down next to Cordelia. "You call it, Cordy."  
  
"Will it scar?" she asked, trying to be brave.  
  
"I don't know," he said honestly.  
  
She bit her lip and let her hair fall back around her face. "I've spent all my life being pretty and popular," she said in a whisper. "I don't know how to be anything else."  
  
"Cordy," he said softly, "We've seen so many things that we thought were impossible. And most of it has been horrible, but some of it has been beautiful too. If Sarah thinks this person could help -- and I think she's talking magic, here -- I think maybe we should give it a try."  
  
"And if it doesn't work?" she asked so softly that Xander could barely hear her.  
  
"Then that is why God created plastic surgeons." he said with a slight smile.  
  
"All right," she said, still in that almost inaudible voice. "Let's stay."  
  
Xander settled down beside her and put his arm around her. "Brave doesn't even begin to describe it." he told her and nodded at Sarah. "How long do we have to wait?"  
  
Sarah had gone bast chewing on her lip and was nibbling on a claw. "Not too long, I should think. I've never called for help before, so I imagine she's racing around in a full-blown panic about now. Cordelia, I think if I try to wash it or do anything like that, it will start bleeding again. I think I should just leave it alone and let Meli work on it."  
  
"All right," she said again.  
  
Buffy had found a blanket and was stuffing it in the broken window to keep the cold air out. "What can I do to help?"  
  
Sarah thought a moment. "There's a large pot in the cupboard by the stove. If you could fill that with water, heat it to boiling, then turn it off? Meli will need hot water for Cordelia. And if you could heat the tea kettle too? I have some tea that works as a pain reliever. I think we all could use some." She stopped for a moment and closed her eyes, breathing carefully, then abruptly shook her head and rubbed her eyes. "I'm still seeing spots," she said wryly.  
  
"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Cordelia said weakly.  
  
"It was, Cordelia," Sarah said in surprise. "It was a great idea. However, forgive me, but if I had known about it, I probably would have stayed home. You hardly needed any extra help."  
  
"Which is good, since you were hardly able to give it," Giles grumbled.  
  
"Get over it, Giles, " Buffy said sharply. "I'm sick of hearing it."  
  
The room was silent for a moment. "Just what was it that Willow did?" Oz finally asked.  
  
"I'm just guessing, but... a really big spell?" Buffy said.  
  
"I think we could have figured that out for ourselves," Xander said. "Giles, I didn't think she was up to anything like that."  
  
"She wasn't," Giles said dryly. "And still isn't. Which is why she collapsed. She apparently figured out how to call up that much power, but she didn't know how to dispel it afterwards. She took the energy back into herself, and it... blew a fuse, so to speak." He coughed. "I think I'd better keep a closer eye on what sources she's studying from. That spell was from nothing I gave her."  
  
"It better not have been," Xander said darkly.  
  
Sarah cocked her head suddenly. "Oh, good," she said with a large amount of exhausted relief.  
  
"What?" Buffy asked, then she heard it, too. A low hum that was almost felt more than heard, and she pushed behind her cars, trying to relieve some of the pressure. "What is that?" she asked.  
  
"The cavalry, "Sarah said faintly. A soft green glow appeared at the far end of the living room. It grew larger and larger, until it was about the size of a person. Then it parted in the center, and for a second, Buffy could see a place inside the glow that certainly wasn't part of Sarah's apartment. Then it disappeared with a soft pop that again, was more felt than heard, and a woman, slightly older than Sarah stood in its place. Her long dark hair fluttered around her exotic face, then settled as if a breeze had suddenly flared up, then died just as suddenly.  
  
Buffy hadn't felt a breeze.  
  
"Wow!" Xander said in a small voice.  
  
"Teleportation?" Giles asked, staring at Sarah in surprise.  
  
The woman glanced around the room until she saw Sarah, then abruptly relaxed. "Thank God," she said softly and held out her arms. "Oh, Cat."  
  
Sarah stumbled forward and fell into the woman's arms. "Thank you," she said softly, her head on the other woman's shoulders. "I didn't know what else to do."  
  
"Of course, I'd come," the other woman scolded. "Do you think we don't worry about you?" She looked over Sarah's shoulder at the others. "Which one's hurt?"  
  
"Most of them." Sarah said. She stepped away and raked her mane of hair away from her eyes. "This is Meliaka. She's... like me. And was one of the first of us. I'd go through introductions, but..."  
  
"They can wait," Meliaka said, her eyes on Willow. She came over to kneel next to Oz. She moved with a shimmering sound, and Oz realised that her skirt was sewn with dozens of tiny bells. He studied her face and saw the same inhuman qualities in her exotic features as in Sarah's, but her eyes held nothing but compassion... and weariness behind that. She put her hand on Willow's forehead. "Oh, dear," she said softly. "What has this child been up to? She should not have been casting a spell like that."  
  
"You can tell?" Oz asked.  
  
"Well, not specifies, but I can tell what would have caused this."  
  
"Can you help her?" Buffy asked tightly.  
  
"Oh, of course," Meli said lightly. "She'll be fine, but she'll need a lot of sleep over the next couple of days." She looked up and glanced around at the rest of them. "I think, actually, she can wait. I think some of you are in more need than she is." Her eyes narrowed at Sarah. "Cat, I really think--"  
  
"Later, Meli," Sarah said firmly. "Xander's arm's broken."  
  
"What have you been doing to these children?" Meli scolded again.  
  
"It wasn't me," Sarah protested, rather like the scolded child Meli was making her into. "Go yell at the vampires, if you want someone to blame."  
  
Meli smiled gently at her, then went to kneel in front of Xander. "Let me see your arm."  
  
"Look, I can wait," he insisted. "Can you help Cordelia first?"  
  
She smiled again, and Xander found himself relaxing just at her smile. The throbbing in his arm backed away slightly. She touched Cordelia's chin, raising the girl's face to the light. "Cat, I need some hot water--"  
  
"Here." Buffy set a large kettle of steaming water next to her. "It was boiling about ten minutes ago. It still felt too hot to me, so I put in a tray of ice cubes just a minute ago."  
  
Meli tested the water. "Perfect." She took a cloth out of the bag she was carrying, dampened it, then gently began to wash Cordelia's face. "Look at me, child," she said so soothingly that Cordelia could hardly take offence at the endearment and looked pleadingly into the woman's eyes. Meli gently placed her hand over Cordelia's cheek, not quite touching the skin, and Cordelia felt her face grow warm, as if it was being bathed by steam. Meli's eyes began to glow in a comforting shade of green. After a long moment, the glow began to die away again, and her eyes went back to their normal inhumanity. Cordelia's eyes went wide. "It doesn't hurt," she said in amazement. She looked at Xander, who was staring at her with large eyes. "What?" she said sharply, then gingerly touched her face. Her cheek was smooth and unbroken.  
  
"Such a pretty child," Meli said, almost to herself.  
  
Cordelia found her purse and dug through it for her mirror, her hands shaking. She looked in it. Her cheek was healed. There was no scarring. The only indication that anything had happened was that her face on that side was a soft pink, as if she had been out in the sun just a touch too long. "How did you do that?" she asked in amazement.  
  
Meli lifted one shoulder in a delicate shrug. "It's who I am."  
  
Cordelia touched her cheek again, then turned quickly to Xander. "Your arm!"  
  
That healing took longer, and by the time Xander was able to flex his fingers again without pain, Cordelia was half asleep and fighting it  
.  
"The healing will make you sleepy," Meli explained. "I'll give you one of my horrible tasting teas, which will put you to sleep, but you need the rest. Your body just went through an accelerated healing and it will have some catching up to do."  
  
"Is that how you do it?" Giles had come over to watch. "Speed up the healing process?"  
  
"That's as good an explanation as any." Meli went back to Willow. "I think I'd better look at her, now."  
  
Buffy brought in several mugs and the steaming tea kettle, and Meli brought out a pouch of some herbs. "Could you make this into a tea for me?" she asked, then turned to Willow. She placed her hand on Willow's forehead again, as if she was checking for a fever, and closed her eyes. Willow stirred with a soft moan, then took a deep breath and sleepily opened her eyes. "Wha'happened?" she asked.  
  
"You, my dear, cast one whopper of a spell," Meli said with amusement.  
  
"Oh," she said faintly. Her eyes opened wider. "Is Giles pissed?"  
  
"Giles is not too happy with you," Giles said, leaning over the back of the couch.  
  
"I'm not useless," Willow said miserably.  
  
Giles softened. "No, you aren't, Willow. But you could have killed yourself, casting a spell you didn't know how to control. I'm not stopping you from studying magic, but you have to do it at a slower pace."  
  
"Yeah," Willow said faintly. "I think I figured that out for myself, right before that blast sucked back into me."  
  
"Where did you even find such a spell?" he asked.  
  
"Off the Internet," she said sleepily.  
  
"That's it," Giles muttered. "I'm throwing the bloody computer out the window."  
  
She yawned widely. "Can I go back to sleep now?"  
  
"First you're going to drink this." Meli handed her a steaming mug. "It will help you rest."  
  
Willow took a timid sip and made an exquisite face.  
  
"If you don't drink it," Meli said sternly, "you will wake up with a headache the size of Minnesota."  
Willow obediently drank the tea. She smiled tiredly up at Oz, who kissed the top of her head. "Thank you," he said softly to Meli. She smiled back at him and stood up. This time, she looked at Sarah with a good deal more determination. "Cat, you need to sit down before you fall down."  
  
Sarah was leaning against the table. "I'm all right, Meli" she said sharply.  
  
"Uh, huh," Meli said, unconvinced. She went over to Sarah, and in a movement too quick to follow, she laid her hand on Sarah's side. She brought it back red and dripping and held it out in front of Sarah. Giles suddenly had a flashback of the vampire slashing at her just after the lights came on. With her black clothes, they had never even noticed the blood.  
  
"It isn't that bad," Sarah said. "Go help the others."  
  
"You are the worst one of all that's left," Meli snapped, in the first strong emotion they had seen from her. "You may not be active trying to kill yourself, but you're going to succeed without trying if you keep this up. And killing yourself isn't going to bring him back, Cat!"  
  
Sarah went even paler, and here eyes flashed with anger and deep pain. Then, just as abruptly, all the emotion drained from her face. "I miss him, Meli," she said in a plaintive voice.  
  
Meli placed her hand on Sarah's face, her eyes as full of sorrow as Sarah's were empty. "I know, Cat," she said softly and rested her forehead against Sarah's for a brief second, then gently pushed her toward the bedroom door "Go on. I'll be there in a minute."  
  
Sarah turned and went into the bedroom, her hand pressed against her side. Buffy raised her eyebrow at Meli, who nodded, and Buffy followed Sarah. "I know you're supposed to be big sistering me," they heard her say cheerfully, "but let's play role reversal for tonight, huh?"  
  
Meli smiled gently at Giles, and he suddenly understood just how soothing that smile was, as he began to relax for the first time that day. "They're good children," she said softly.  
  
"They are, aren't they?" he said with a touch of pride. He smiled over the four of them. Cordelia was using Xander's leg as a pillow, curled up on the floor. Xander had fallen sleep sitting up against the wall, one hand resting on Cordelia's shoulder. Oz was asleep sitting against the couch, his head close to Willow's and holding her hand. Willow had regained more colour in her face and was breathing evenly, her other hand curled around the back of Oz's neck.  
Meli gathered her various vials and pouches back into her bag. "I'll go take care of the Cat, then come back to look at your ankle."  
  
"My ankle?"  
  
She smiled again. "You've been limping."  
  
"I have?" Once he thought of it, he realised it was hurting. "I don't even remember hurting it," he said doubtfully. "Come to think of it, my wrist hurts too."  
  
"I know," she said gently and went into the bedroom.  
  
Buffy came out a few minutes later. The bruise on her temple had faded, and although she looked as exhausted as the rest of them, she walked a little easier. Giles guessed the healer had worked some of her magic on the Slayer as well. She looked around with satisfaction at the sleeping bodies. "We look pretty good for a room of passed out bodies." she said in a low voice, not wanting to wake anyone. "Do you think we should set a watch?"  
  
Giles had sunk down in the nearest chair. He had taken off his glasses, but at Buffy's question, he sat up straighter and put his glasses on again, doing a heroic job of hiding his reluctance. "I'll sit first watch. You get some sleep."  
  
Conflicting responses battled across her face. Then she sighed with relief "You sure you're okay to stay awake?"  
  
"Certainly," he lied.  
  
"In that case..." She went into the kitchen and came back with a mug of the same tea she had made for the others at Meli's instructions. She sat down on the floor near Giles' chair and took a sip. She made a face. "Stewed grass clippings," she muttered.  
  
"You just don't appreciate tea," Giles said in amusement.  
  
"You haven't had any of this yet," Buffy told him. "Anything on the Orb, yet?"  
  
Giles blinked at her. "Er... no, not yet." The quiet day in the library felt like it had been weeks ago.  
  
"Hmm. " She took another sip of the tea, this time without making the face. "It would be awfully nice to find out just why the other side was so enthusiastic tonight."  
  
"You're fairly certain they were after the Orb, then." It wasn't even really a question.  
  
"No, they normally attack in such numbers just for jollies." She rolled her eyes. "You'll just have to look harder."  
  
"I hope that meant I'd have help."  
  
"Hey, you were the one who found that Orb in the first place," she protested.  
  
"Actually, it was Willow who found it," he answered absently.  
  
They both looked over at the sleeping Willow.  
  
"Yeah," Buffy said lightly. "Ill help you look."  
  
"Of course you will," he said kindly, still watching Willow breathe, just to reassure himself that she was breathing.  
  
"In that case," Buffy said again, for no particular reason at all and drained the last of her tea. She yawned, set the mug aside and curled up in a ball on the floor where she was sitting. As near as Giles could tell, she fell asleep almost immediately. His eyes ached, and he began to wonder how he was going to manage to stay awake. And now that he had admitted it, his ankle had begun to throb.  
  
The bedroom door swung open and Meli slipped out. She paused to rest her hand for a brief moment on Willow's forehead again and nodded in satisfaction.  
"Your turn," she said to him. "Lets go in the kitchen so we don't wake them."  
  
Giles debated for a moment, which would be worse -- getting up or hurting. Then his wrist decided to kick in too, and he struggled out of the chair.  
  
Meli was shaking the tea kettle doubtfully. "I didn't think there'd be any left," she said ruefully. She filled it and set it to heat on the stove.  
  
"How long have you known Sarah?" he asked, after she had finished with his ankle. Being without pain was something no one truly appreciated.  
  
"Years," she said fondly. "Sarah and I were in that first group, before we were an army. When we were just kids doing what we thought was right and really having no idea what we were doing. There were seven of us then; Sarah, Grey, Luke, the Twins, Sheila, and myself. Wren was around, but she was still human then."  
  
"You were all half-demons?"  
  
"No," she said slowly, almost reluctantly. "Grey was human."  
  
"Grey?"  
She nodded. "Sarah's husband. He was our leader, until he was killed, and Sarah took over."  
  
"She's your leader?" Giles asked carefully. "She never mentioned that, either."  
  
Meli looked up from testing his fingers on his injured wrist and looked into his eyes for a moment. "It's hard for her to confide in people." she said at last. "She's had to keep so many things secret for so long. Perhaps she did make a mistake in not telling you and the children more about herself, but she's just in the habit of keeping secrets." Her fingers paused over the mark of Eyghon on his arm. "Haven't you ever made mistakes?" she asked softly.  
  
Giles caught his breath and drew his hand back. "How did you know about that?"  
  
"I don't," she said gently. "But I sense emotions, and the depth of your regrets. The Cat has so much grief, so many regrets, that it paralyses her. And she is not quite human, and no longer thinks as one." The tea kettle began to whistle and she whisked it off the stove before it could get to full volume. She poured the hot water into the two mugs on the counter. "There. Now if you could please help me by taking that mug of tea in to the Cat? The one on the right. I have to make it so much stronger for her. If you would do that, I'll go cheek on the others. And I will stand watch tonight, so you just drink that other cup yourself and try to get some sleep, like the children are doing."  
  
Put that way, he could hardly refuse. He buttoned his sleeve cuff around his wrist, flexing his fingers experimentally. There was none of the pain of a few minutes ago. "Amazing," he murmured. He made sure he picked up the right mug and went into the living room. He stopped long enough to watch Meli pull the blanket up higher on Willow. She rested her hand on Oz's head for a moment, then went to check on Cordelia and Xander, and Giles slipped through the room, hoping not to distract her any further. He tapped on the frame of the bedroom door uncomfortably before he went in.  
  
Sarah was a lump under the blankets, her mane of hair tumbled over the pillow. She tried to say something, but all that came out was "Mrumph."  
  
"It's me," Giles felt he should say, in case Sarah thought he was Meli and would say something he wasn't meant to overhear.  
  
She tried again, and this time managed words. "I know. Scented you. Meli make you bring the tea in?"  
  
"Yes, well..." He put the mug on the night stand and backed away quickly. "She was seeing to the others."  
  
Sarah opened her eyes. "They're okay?"  
  
"Asleep."  
  
"Good." She closed her eyes again, then forced herself to sit up with an effort.  
  
"How are you feeling?" he asked politely.  
  
"Oh, it's all right," she said without much concern. "Just tired. Before I drink that tea, do you need me to take a watch?"  
  
"Meli said she'd watch tonight."  
  
"God bless Meli," Sarah said thankfully and picked up the mug.  
  
Giles leaned against the door frame and watched her blow on the hot liquid to cool it. "All right," she said finally. "Go ahead and yell. Get it out of your system."  
  
He blinked, because that hadn't been what he was thinking at all. "Do you really expect that of me?"  
  
"It's all you've done today." She grimaced at the taste of the tea.  
  
"Well... I wasn't planning to now," he said uncomfortably. She arched a suspicious eyebrow at him. "I was actually wondering how hard it was for you. Taking orders from Buffy and myself, when you are used to giving them."  
  
She sighed. "Oh, Meli..." She shook her head ruefully. "And what you're trying not to ask is why am I playing scout when I should be leading the troops."  
  
"Not exactly," Giles protested automatically, even though she was right.  
  
Sarah shrugged. "Meli exaggerated. I'm not really a leader anymore. I mean, yes, in name, and they occasionally do defer to me, but there are other people who are doing the actually leading, and I'm not really needed anymore. I never wanted to be a leader in the first place. I--" and her eyes went dark. "I inherited it," she finished and bent over her mug again. "You'd better get some sleep too," she said, not looking up. "Go let Meli pour some of this noxious stuff into you." She put her empty mug aside and scrunched down, pulling the covers up almost over her head, until she resembled the same lump she had been earlier. Giles eased out of the room. The living room was silent except for the soft sound of breathing. He picked up his jacket that he had discarded on a chair earlier and gently covered Buffy with it. She smiled in her sleep, and he studied her, how young she was, how tension and strain creased her face even in sleep. Then he stood up and went into the kitchen, where he heard Meli humming, and wondered if the tea was really as bad as they had all made it cut to be. And found out that they hadn't been exaggerating at all.  
  



	12. Default Chapter Title

HOME IS WHERE YOU HANG YOUR CROSSBOW  
  
by Kamara  
stealthbunny@msn.com  
  
Chapter Twelve  
  
Giles shot awake the moment someone touched his shoulder. He went through the stomach-plunging disorientation of not recognizing where he was. The exotic face looking at him had a touch of familiarity to him amid the confusion, and he wondered for a brief second if she was someone from a dream. Then he realized he was stiff from sleeping in a chair, and once he realized that, the rest of the reality flooded back. He rubbed at his face, then fumbled for his glasses.  
  
"I hated to wake you," Meli said in that soft, soothing voice that made him promptly forgive her for waking him, "but I have to go back to the 'Hold, and I didn't want to just disappear."  
  
"Literally, eh?" Giles finally found his glasses under the chair where he had put them to protect them from feet.  
  
"Yes, there's that, too." Her voice was filled with amusement. "Would you tell the Cat I'll be back later? I will want to cheek on Willow again."  
  
"Yes, certainly." He put his glasses on and blinked at her, hoping he didn't look quite as disconnected as he felt.  
  
Meli stood up and swung her bag up on her shoulder. She stepped back, then closed her eyes. The same green glow that seemed to accompany all her magic began to build around her, drifting her long hair in a current of some sort of energy. Then the glow solidified around her, and then suddenly, it was gone, and Meli with it. The room went back to the dingy grey of pre-dawn, with slashes of warm golden light as the sun began to stream in through the windows.  
  
"Just another day in Sunnydale," Giles said under his breath. He closed his eyes again and started to sink back into the chair, then pulled himself out and stood up when he realized just how easy it would be to fall asleep again. He didn't really think that a watch was still needed this far into daylight, but he was shaken by all the injuries the night before, and he just felt that he should watch over them.  
  
After all, they were only teenagers.  
  
He felt, more than he heard, the bedroom door swing open, and Sarah came out, her mane of hair even more tousled than usual. She jammed her hands into the pockets of her robe and nodded toward the kitchen. "Something to drink," she said in short explanation, then Giles heard her add in a mutter, "preferably something with caffeine."  
  
She didn't move like she had been injured, and Giles flexed his wrist thoughtfully. "It sure saves on trips to the emergency room," he murmured.  
  
He heard the sound of something in the kitchen falling, although from the sound of it, it wasn't something very large or heavy. Then Sarah swore in a soft, tired voice. He deliberated for a moment, then looked in the kitchen.  
  
Sarah was crouched on the floor picking up spilled tea bags. "Why did I ever think that getting a hundred count box was better than tiny boxes? At least there wouldn't be as many to pick up."  
  
The entire kitchen floor was scattered with the bags, and after another careful deliberation, Giles went to help her pick them up. She shoved a handful of the bags into the box, then looked at the sea of them coating the floor of the tiny room, and slid back on her heels to sit on the floor. She raked her hair away from her face. "Ah, hell," she-said and laughed weakly, burying her face in her hands.  
  
Giles quietly placed his own handful of tea bags in the box, heartily wishing that anyone else was in his place. "At least it wasn't loose tea," he ventured.  
  
Sarah gave that same weak laugh, that barely hinted of any emotion, then rested her chin on her fists.  
  
"I'm tired," she said, still without any emotion. "I'm just so very tired."  
  
Giles looked at her, and in the growing light from the windows, he saw the glints of grey in her burnished mane, and suddenly wondered if this would be Buffy in ten years.   
  
If Buffy lived another ten years.  
  
"When the Twins died," Sarah said suddenly, "only one of them had been hurt. She died from the injuries, and the other just... died with her. They had always been more of one person in two bodies, then two separate personalities. And just before the second one died, only seconds after the first, she looked at me and said, 'I'm sorry, Cat, but she's waiting for me.' And she just died. Like she had found some sort of switch to turn off. And I've been trying to find that same switch ever since Grey died, because if one Twin was kept back, waiting for the other, is Grey stuck somewhere waiting for me?" Her fingers curled up around her chin, and she bit one of them, sharply, its pain drowned out by the one that had been devouring her for years. "I'm just so tired of living," she whispered.  
They heard the murmur of voices in the other room. Sarah abruptly shook her head. She quickly climbed to her feet and went out. "How're you feeling?" Giles heard her say. "Now, you're not to go casting any spells like that in the near future, right?"  
  
There were some giggles, and by the time Giles had finished picking up the other tea bags, he heard enough voices to determine everyone was awake.   
  
When he came out of the kitchen, Sarah was sending Oz and Xander down the street to the Dunkin'Donuts to bring back breakfast for them all.  
  
"After breakfast, we really should get back to the library," he said. "We still have research to do."  
  
"I'll help!" Willow eagerly began to climb out from under the blankets, but Buffy pushed her right back down. "No, you don't," she said severely. "I heard Meli say you were to stay put and rest."  
  
"But I can rest at the library," Willow protested. "All I'll be doing is reading. That's staying put!"  
  
Sarah arched an eyebrow at Giles, all traces of her earlier anguish hidden. "Can you bring some of those boxes that are left over here? I'd rather she not go out. I don't want to have to be the one to explain to Meli, if Willow has a relapse."  
  
Giles nodded thoughtfully. "Oz can walk to the library with me and drive his van back with a couple of boxes."  
  
"And I can do more stuff on the computer, too," Willow chirped.  
  
"Not if I throw it out the window first," Giles grumbled, but he smiled in relief at seeing Willow back to her normal self. "Just no more casting spells until I look at them first."  
  
"Yes, Giles," Willow said meekly, but her eyes sparkled. Then Oz and Xander thundered in with enough food to feed an army, which they were, so it worked out well. Cordelia demanded a shower before she did anything else, and by the time they were all finished, it was midmorning, and Giles was impatient to get back to the research. He, Xander, Cordelia, Buffy and Oz went back to the library, and about half an hour later, Oz returned to the apartment with a box of books. "This is it," he said, setting the books down beside the couch. "The others have two boxes between all of them." He handed Willow a shoulder bag that turned out to hold her laptop computer. She sat up, still buried under blankets, and happily turned the computer on. She absently handed one end of a phone cord to Sarah, who shook her head in amusement and found a phone jack to plug it into. Within a few minutes, Willow was completely immersed in the screen, and had stopped paying attention to anything else. With an adoring smile, Oz watched the lights from the screen play across her intense face, then reluctantly picked up the nearest book and began to scan through it.  
  
It was late afternoon when the phone rang, startling Willow awake. She gave Oz a cross look for letting her fall asleep, but couldn't hold it for long. She made a face at him, then turned to Sarah as she put the phone down again. She came over to lean against the back of the couch. "That was Giles. They haven't found anything yet, and they're out of books. Cordelia has to make an appearance at her family's, but will be back tonight. Willow, she says to tell you that she told her parents she slept at your place last night."  
  
Willow nodded wisely. "Which means that I spent it at Buffy's. Whose mother already knows what's going on, so Buffy doesn't need an alibi."  
  
"I'm not going to be able to stay much longer," Oz said hesitantly. "I have a rehearsal for the band, and I'd really rather not miss another one, especially since we aren't finding anything."  
  
"Ill keep looking," Willow offered. "After all, I'll probably be staying at Buffy's tonight, too."  
  
Sarah shook her head. "What happens when your parents all find out about this."  
  
"We're hoping they won't," Oz said.  
  
"Sunnydale Denial, y'know," Willow nodded.  
  
"Anyway, Buffy and Xander are coming back over here to help Willow. There's two phone lines here, so they can pound on my computer for a while. I'm going to the university library with Giles to check out the rare books division. He says sometimes he has luck finding information there." She stopped talking for a moment, looking distant.  
  
"What's wrong?" Willow asked gently.  
  
Sarah gave herself a little shake. "Oh, nothing. I was just thinking how different it is here. We never really do this type of intensive research. We seek, find, fight, and kill. Is this typical for you?"  
  
"Yep," Willow said cheerfully. "Like Cordelia said, we spend as much time in the library working as we do out on the streets, working."  
  
"Hmmph." Sarah thought for a moment more. "Perhaps we should take a lesson from you. Maybe we'd be more prepared, if we knew more about what was happening, rather than facing it blindly."  
"Well, we do a lot of that to," Oz admitted. "You gonna be okay, babe? I hate to run out, but..."  
  
"I'll be fine," she assured him. "Vamps can't come in here. They haven't been invited."  
  
"True..." but Oz hesitated a moment longer, before kissing her on the forehead. As he walked out the door, Giles, Buffy, and Xander came in. They ducked around each other good-naturedly, while Giles shooed them inside. Xander was carrying a pizza box, and Willow whisked her laptop out of the way just before he plopped the box on her lap. "Dinner," he announced. Sarah leaned over Willow's shoulder and snagged a piece, before hurrying out to catch up with Giles, who was already heading back to the car. She stopped at the door. "Is he always like this?" she asked in a loud whisper.  
  
"Get used to it," Xander said. "He lives for this type of stuff. As for me, I'm completely sick of the smell of moth-eaten books." He grabbed a piece of pizza for himself, and Sarah ran down the walk to the car.  
  
Buffy settled herself down on the floor next to the couch where Oz had been sitting. "Any idea where on the Web to look?" she asked Willow.  
  
Willow, who was certain she had not felt hungry ten minutes ago, was starting on her second slice. "There are a couple of sites you can try, that I haven't gotten to, yet." she said after swallowing her mouthful. "I'm really hoping Giles and Sarah find something, 'cause I'm running out of places to look, too."  
  
Buffy started to answer, but she suddenly cocked her head. "What?" Xander asked, then they all heard the humming noise. "Oh, good," Buffy said happily. "Meli's back.  
  
Willow watched in fascination as the green glow materialized, grew, and disappeared with its gentle "pop". There was someone else with Meli, a petite woman even smaller-boned than Meli, but who moved with the same dancer's grace. Meli smiled at Willow who grinned back. "You certainly look better today," she said and came over to place her hand on Willow's forehead and gaze into her eyes. "Yes, you're doing much better. Xander, how's that arm?"  
  
Xander, his mouthful of pizza, wiggled his fingers to show her everything was working.  
  
The other woman came to look over Willow's shoulder at the computer screen. "Nice little 'puter, " she said absently, then grinned at Willow. "I'm Wren. Meli thought I might be able to help." She rather looked like her name, Xander thought. She had long brown hair, and didn't seem to be able to sit still for very long. She upended the bag she was carrying on the floor and several disks, both floppy and for CD-ROM poured out. She began to shuffle through them. "I spent a couple of hours going through our backup files for anything that might have something on this Orb of yours. I didn't get a chance to actually look through them. I just grabbed possibilities." She divided the pile into two smaller ones, then looked up. "Is the Cat's computer up and running?" Then she saw it on the table and flowed to her feet to hurry over to it. "Good, it's going." She waved at Xander and Buffy. "You two wanna start on this pile? You know how to access info from a disk, right? Good. I'll help Willow with the other pile and we can exchange trade secrets." She bounced back over to the couch and perched on the back of it, sitting somehow in perfect balance while holding the rest of the disks in her lap. She handed the first one to Willow. "Well, go on," she said to Buffy, shooing her towards the other computer.  
  
Buffy looked at Xander who shrugged, took another piece of pizza and followed her to the computer. "We can't escape it," he murmured to her.  
  
"Yeah," Buffy said, pecking at the keyboard, "but at least it doesn't smell of mothballs." The computer hummed and text began to spill over the screen. The room quieted down to the sounds of the computers reading disks and Meli's occasional humming from the kitchen. As it grew darker, Buffy stood up for a stretch and went around the room, shutting blinds and turning on lights while Xander took a turn on the keyboard. Buffy rested her forehead against the cool glass of the last window, tiredly looking out at the dusk. She wondered if she should stay here and look some more, or go out on patrol. The glass against her skin warmed until it was no longer cool enough to be comforting, and she pushed herself away from the wall and lowered the blinds on that window, too.  
  
"Hey, wait a minute," Xander said suddenly. "I found something about a blue crystal I ball." They all looked up eagerly, and he sighed and shook his head. "No, this is something called an Ikit's Globe. Nothing about this Gekkos thing-or-another."  
  
"Yeah, but--" Willow tried to sit up straighter and got tangled in the blanket. She pushed it impatiently aside, and stood up to come over and look over Xander shoulder. "Sarah and Giles were saying something about maybe it might be called something different. What's the one you found?"  
  
"An Ikit's Globe," Xander said, with some satisfaction. "Y'know, if they thought it might be something else, why didn't they just tell us to look for anything about a blue globe?"  
  
"They did," Willow said in exasperation. "Weren't you listening?"  
  
Xander had a what-do-l-do-now expression. "Um... obviously I was overcome by the smell of mothballs at that point. But I'm sure I haven't seen anything else on any type of blue globe." Willow continued to gaze at him steadily. "I didn't," he insisted. "At least, I'm reasonably sure I didn't," he added in a smaller voice.  
  
Willow pushed him aside and sat at the computer. "Ikit's Globe..." she said thoughtfully. "Here. 'A blue crystal globe that glows brightly at the presence of a magic worker. For properties and abilities, see Eeffoc's Guide, volume seven."   
  
She looked up. "Volume seven?" she asked in a weak voice.  
  
Wren was shuffling through disks. "Wait, I have some of that here. Of course, the majority of the set has been lost over time."  
  
Xander rested his head on the table. "And just what hasn't been lost over time? This stupid Orb. It's hasn't been lost. No, we manage to find it!"  
  
Willow absently smacked his shoulder.  
  
"Okay, here," Wren said excitedly. "Volumes 1 through 4, six and -- Ha! -- seven!" She held up three disks. "It'll be somewhere on these."  
  
Xander raised his head up to look at her doubtfully. "It could take a while, to go through all those, couldn't it?"  
  
"Yes." Buffy said, standing up with purpose. "That's why we're going to the university to find Giles and Sarah. Maybe Giles already knows what this Ikit's Globe is, and we can get back here before too long."  
  
"And just how are we going to get to the campus?" Xander asked.  
  
Buffy deflated for a moment. "Well, we have to think of some way. Oz isn't here, none of us have cars. Can Meli teleport us?"  
  
"Only if she has an idea where she's going," Wren said. "She knew where the Cat was staying, so she could find her way here, but she's never been to this university."  
  
Buffy paced the room urgently. "Well, we have to think of something. Mom's out of town and she has the car... Cordelia?"  
  
"Trust me, unreachable for a while." Xander shuddered. "Not even I am brave enough to pull her away from her family."  
  
"Willow, can you get a hold of Oz?"  
  
Willow shook her head. "I know the number, but they can never hear the phone during rehearsals."  
Buffy sank into a chair, drumming her fingers on the arm of it impatiently. She gazed around the room trying to think of an idea. Her gaze fell on the battered coffee table where Sarah had left her keys that Xander had brought to her from the library. She sat up brightly. "We have Sarah's car!"  
  
"Now wait a minute," Xander began.  
  
Buffy cut him off. "This is an emergency, Xander. You have a license, we have the keys, the car is in the driveway... what's the problem?"  
  
"It's not our car," Xander said patiently.  
  
"This is an emergency," she repeated, just as patiently. "Willow, can you and Wren, and maybe Meli keep looking through this volume seven thingie? Just use one computer, so we can call on the other phone line if we need you." She grabbed the keys off the table, and caught Xander by the back of his jacket as he was about to sneak into the kitchen. "C'mon," she said, all pretense to patience gone. She hauled him down the walk to the black TransAm and unlocked the door. She shoved the keys in his hand, pushed him into the driver's seat and ran around to get in the other side. "Well, hurry up and start it." she said.  
  
Xander leaned forward and rested his head on the steering wheel. "I know I'm going to regret saying this, but I see no way around it. Buff, I can't drive a standard." He looked at her hopefully. "Can't we just call a taxi?"  
  
"No time!" Buffy waved him out of the scat. "I'll drive."  
  
"That was exactly what I was afraid you were going to say," he said weakly. "Buff, if anything happens to this car, Sarah will kill us. That's not an idle threat, Buff. She has big claw-type things."  
  
"Nothing's going to happen," she snapped. "And I've driven this before with no problem. Now move!"  
  
He climbed out of the car again. "Ill just go and wait inside and help the others," he said.  
  
"Xander," she said warningly.  
  
Xander sighed deeply. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Get in the car, Xander. Shut up, Xander. Xander, be prepared to be arrested for grand theft auto. I know the drill, Buff." He walked around the car and swung in the seat Buffy had vacated to crawl over the gear shift into the drivers seat.  
  
"Just relax," Buffy said as she started the car. "What could happen?"  
  
Xander whimpered.  
  
  



	13. Default Chapter Title

Home is Where You Hang Your Crossbow  
  
By Kamara  
stealthbunny@msn.com  
  
Chapter Thirteen  
  
"Just to make the record clear," Xander said the moment Sarah and Giles walked into the library, "None of this is my fault."  
  
"Coward," Buffy shot at him.  
  
"Yes," Xander agreed. "And your point is...?"  
  
"Oh, dear." With the long-suffering expression of one who has had entirely too much experience in such matters, Giles set down his briefcase. "What's happened now?"  
  
"I'm taking refuge in coward-dom... you tell them, Buffy." Xander edged away.  
  
"I'm liking this less and less," Giles observed. "Go on, Buffy."  
  
Buffy made a face at Xander. "There's a perfectly reasonable explanation," she said.  
  
Giles groaned. Sarah began to unobtrusively wander away, letting Giles be the Figure of Authority.  
  
Buffy sighed. "All right. We found something important. Really important. So we thought we'd better go tell you."  
  
"There's no 'we' in this," Xander put in quickly. "I was dragged along. Given no choice in the matter whatsoever!"  
  
"Xander," Buffy and Giles chorused.  
  
"I know, I know. Shut up, Xander," Xander subsided.  
  
"Go on, Buffy," Giles prompted.  
  
"Right. So we went to the university library, and we couldn't find you." She bailed her fists on her hips. "That was very irresponsible of you, you know. We might have needed you!"  
  
"Somehow, I'm not sure you should be bringing up the matter of responsibility in this conversation." Giles leaned against the edge of the study table and crossed his arms.  
  
"Well," she hedged. "So when we couldn't find you, we called Sarah's, and Willow said you were coming back here. So here we are!" She smiled brightly, and Xander choked.  
  
"Why do I feel that there's more to this story?" Giles asked severely.  
  
Buffy twisted her fingers. "Well... there were those vampires..." She looked beseechingly at Sarah.  
  
Sarah held up her hands defensively. "Don't pull me into this one, kiddo. I want nothing to do with this."  
  
  
"Don't be so sure," Xander couldn't help saying.  
"Some big sister you are," Buffy pouted.  
  
"What vampires?" Giles sat back, readying himself for what was obviously going to be a long story.  
  
Buffy took a deep breath and began speaking very fast. "Well, when we realised you weren't at the library, we went back to the car. Only we didn't, because my Slayer radar when off, and we started poking around, and found this vampire hiding out on one of those wooded paths around the campus. You know the ones? Oh, you do. Anyway, so we fought, we staked, but it turns out he had friends, who jumped us when we got back to the car. That's how the window got broken. We fought them off, staked one of them, but as we drove away, they came after us in a pickup truck, of all things. I thought vampires had a bit more class than that, but once again, I overestimated their sense of good taste. So they rammed us a couple of times. That's what happened to the back bumper. We tried to out-race them, but they caught up to us -- I didn't realise pickups were so fast!-- and started throwing things at us. It was a flashlight that broke the other window, but, hey! I have a new flashlight, now! Then they sideswiped us, and I floored it -- I've always wanted to say that -- and turned a corner real fast, which is when the tire blew, and pickups apparently aren't made for high speed chases and quick turns, 'cause they flipped and rolled, and we got away, so here we are!" She took a deep breath and let it out with a bright smile.  
  
Giles and Sarah stared at her, wordlessly. "Well, Buffy," Giles finally said, "truly, I don't know what to say." He blinked, then took off his glasses and massaged his temples wearily. "What are you going to tell Oz?"  
  
Buffy's eyebrows went up in confusion. "0z?"  
Giles lowered his hand and frowned at her. "Yes. His van appears to be very important to him."  
"Oh!" Understanding flashed across her face. "No, it wasn't Oz's van."  
  
"Good Lord, not Cordelia's BMW!" Giles voice rose.  
  
"Better hope she has good insurance," Sarah murmured, picking up a book and idly flipping through it.  
  
"No..." Buffy hedged. "It wasn't Cordelia's either..."  
  
"What other car do you have?" Sarah asked absently.  
  
Giles was studying Buffy carefully. "They don't have another vehicle, do you, Buffy?"  
Sarah looked up, startled by his tone. Buffy squirmed, then held up her hand, Sarah's key chain dangling from her fingers.  
  
Sarah's face lost all expression for a moment, then she launched herself across the study table. Xander yelped and ducked behind Giles, although from the librarian's expression, the safety was dubious. Sarah crouched on the table top, eye-level with Buffy, and with a sudden move, she snatched the keys from Buffy, then leapt from the table and ran out with a speed Buffy hadn't expected, but should have.  
  
"Well, that's it. I'm outta here." Xander grabbed his coat and made a run for the door, but it burst open again, Sarah striding through it, and Xander dodged behind Giles again. Sarah's eyes blazed inhumanly and her fangs flashed as she towered over Buffy. Buffy thought that she looked not too dissimilar to a vampire, and she squared her shoulders.  
  
"Er... Sarah ...... Giles said a little nervously. "Please don't break my Slayer. We still need her for... er... saving, the world."  
  
Sarah closed her eyes. "Was it absolutely necessary?" she grated, her voice even harsher than normal.  
  
"I thought it was," Buffy said in a small voice.  
  
Sarah took a slow breath, then another. She opened her eyes, and there was sanity in them again. "Are you two all right?"  
  
Buffy nodded, her eyes not leaving Sarah's. The tension eased out of Sarah's body with an obvious effort, and she stepped back. Buffy was the only one who saw Giles silently put aside the loaded crossbow. "Could I use your phone, please?" Sarah asked softly.  
"Yes, go right ahead," Giles urged. When the door had closed behind her, Giles turned on Buffy. "Of all the irresponsible things to do, Buffy!"  
  
"We did stake two vampires," Xander offered.  
  
"Xander..." Giles warned. Xander sat on the bottom stair and sulked. Giles eyed him suspiciously, then turned again to Buffy. "So what was it?" he asked in a milder tone that didn't match his glare.  
  
"What was what?"  
  
Giles closed his eyes, struggling for patience. "The reason you got into that car in the first place."  
  
"Oh!" Buffy brightened. "Ikit's Globe."  
  
Giles gazed at her in incomprehension. "Would you care to elaborate?" Then he I blinked, then smiled. "Oh, is that what it is? I thought it must be something else, since we were finding such a lack of references."  
  
"So we did good?" Buffy asked eagerly.  
  
"Don't push it." Giles scanned the piles of books on the table. "Fortunately, I know we have several books that refer to Ikit's Globe."  
  
Sarah came out of the office, and they all watched her warily as she sat down, put her feet up on the table and glowered. "Don't you want to know why we did it?" Buffy ventured.  
  
"No," Sarah said carefully. "Then I would have to decide if wrecking my car really had been necessary." She smiled maliciously. "I don't think you want me to decide it wasn't."  
  
"Absolutely," Xander said. "And moving right along to a change of subject... what's an Ikit's Globe?"  
  
"Apparently, another name for an Orb of Gekkos," Giles supplied.  
  
"Let's try that one more time," Xander said. "We don't know anything about an Orb of Gekkos. Is it to be hoped that we know more about an Ikit's Globe?"  
  
"Oh, certainly." Giles smiled contentedly, then his smile wavered slightly. "Or, rather, I will, as soon as I look it up. I know it's important though. There was a whole lecture on it when I was sitting classes."  
  
"But you don't remember any of it?" Buffy asked.  
"Well, actually..." Giles suddenly appeared very busy, carefully stacking books, "... I missed that lecture."  
  
"You?" Xander asked in amazement. "Mister I've-never-missed-a-class-in-my-life actually missed one? What happened?"  
  
"Nothing important," Giles said lightly, but Buffy thought he looked a little embarrassed anyway. "Besides, this is a perfect example why attendance in academic matters is so important.  
  
"Only Giles could turn his own attempt at playing hooky into a lecture," Xander muttered.  
  
"Yes, well fortunately, I have a book with a large section on Ikit and her creations at home." Giles' smile of contentment was firmly back. "I'm certain it will have a proper explanation of her Globe. I'll head back there, and if you could contact everyone and have them meet me..." Giles looked at his watch. "Oh, dear, it is rather late, isn't it? And since none of you made it home last night, you probably should put in an appearance tonight, shouldn't you? Let's say we'll meet at my place first thing tomorrow morning. That will make sure everyone gets a good night sleep, since none of us did yesterday."  
  
"Well, I won't be able to supply any rides," Sarah said brightly, through her gritted teeth. "You kids are on your own." She climbed to her feet and stalked out the door.  
  
"Yes, avoiding her for a while would be a real good idea," Xander said.  
  
"It might be, at that," Giles agreed. "You two go on, now, before you get into any more trouble that I might feel responsible for." He gathered a few more books and his briefcase and ushered them out before he locked up.  
  
Buffy caught Xander's arm and pulled him back a step. "Should we ask him what they were doing when we couldn't find them? After all, we shouldn't have made it back here before them."  
  
"Buffy," Xander said in a low voice, "I don't want to even think about asking them anything else. We've all seen Giles' angry, and that's scary enough, but Sarah can rip our spines out without even breaking a sweat. Right now, hunting vampires is safer than being around her."  
  
"You're no fun," Buffy pouted as they walked through the parking lot together. "And we didn't hurt her car that much..."  
  
"Good Lord, Sarah!" they heard Giles say loudly. "Your car!"  
  
"Run," Buffy said.  
  
  



	14. Default Chapter Title

Chapter Fourteen  
  
With the type of week it had been, it didn't surprise Giles very much when someone knocked on his door a few minutes after he got home. What did surprise him was that it was Sarah on his doorstep. She had her fists jammed in her pockets, and her expression was battling between anger and sheepish. "It's not a good idea for me to be around people when I'm this angry," she said grumpily.  
  
"Wonderful. So instead, you find me. I guess that means I'm not categorised as a person."  
  
"No, that's not it," she said, but she had to think a moment. "But you already don't like me, so I don't have anything to lose in pissing you off."  
  
"That has to be some of the strangest logic I've ever heard," he told her and let her in. "Besides, who ever said I didn't like you? Trust you, well, that's another thing, but that has nothing to do with liking."  
  
Sarah gazed at him impassively, then shook her head. "And you say my logic is strange."  
  
The habit of politeness kicked in. "I was making dinner. Would you like some?"  
  
"If it's not an imposition," she said, equally as automatically.  
  
"No, of course. After all, I have people dropping in all the time." He disappeared into the kitchen.  
  
"Was that meant to be sarcastic?" she called after him. "It's kind of hard to tell with you."  
  
"Yes, so Buffy says." Giles leaned over the counter, looking into the living room. "Is your car a complete loss?"  
  
Sarah shucked her jacket with a sigh. "No, I think it's mostly cosmetic. A good body shop should be able to fix it. Once the tire's replaced it should be drive-able." Then she added in a sudden wail, "But it was my car!" She plopped down on the couch dejectedly.  
  
Giles, who had thrown more money into his Citroen than to buy a new car a couple of times over, sympathised.  
  
"Do you have any idea how much time I've spent in that car?" Sarah raked her hair away form her face. "It's more of a home than anywhere else."  
  
"You must be exaggerating," Giles scoffed, but Sarah looked away, her eyes and jaws tightening, and he realised she hadn't been. "How long has it been?" he asked, more gently.  
  
She lifted a shoulder in a casual shrug that was too calculated for him to believe. "A couple of years, maybe. It's not really home anymore."  
  
"That wasn't very convincing." Giles took out a couple of plates. "It rather sounded like Buffy saying she loves exams."  
  
She leaned forward, elbows on her knees and her chin resting on her fist. "How do you keep living here?" she asked suddenly, as if she wouldn't ask the question if she gave herself time to think about it. "I mean -- she was killed here, wasn't she? How can you stand staying here, with that memory?"  
  
Giles paused in the midst of stirring a pot of sauce on the stove. "Because there are good memories here, too. Yes, I see her shadows sometimes, and remember her voice, but I'd rather have those memories than be somewhere else where they weren't. Another place would seem... sterile without the memory of her presence."  
  
Sarah stared past him. "I can't stand it," she said softly. "Can't stand walking through the house. I keep thinking I see him out of the corner of my eye. And no matter how much the 'Hold changes, it doesn't change the face that he would be there if I had... just... been faster."  
  
"That's guilt, not memories."  
She shrugged again. "What's the difference?"  
  
There was a knock on the door, and Giles tossed the spoon in the sink. "I might as well throw a bloody party," he said in exasperation.  
  
The knocking turned into pounding, that grew frantic n the short time it took Giles to cross the room. He pulled open the door, and Xander nearly fell in the doorway in mid-pound. He caught himself just shy of stumbling. "Hi!" he said brightly.  
  
Sarah wondered if that God-help-me expression would eventually become permanent on Giles' face. "What do you want, Xander?" he asked with infinite patience.  
  
A look of puzzlement creased Xander's face, and he sniffed experimentally. "Do I smell something burning?"  
  
It was amazing how fast Giles could more when he needed to. Before Xander had finished speaking, Giles was in the kitchen, clattering pots. Then he came back in, still with that expression of patience, as if rescuing his kitchen from fire was a common, everyday occurrence. "Yes, Xander?"  
  
"Buffy needs help," Xander announced, bouncing on the balls of his feet expectantly.  
  
Giles closed his eyes briefly. "Yes. Now why is that not a surprise?"  
  
"Well, actually, she doesn't think she needs help, but I tend to think that being outnumbered that badly is a definition of needing help. So I elected myself as cavalry-fetcher."  
  
"More vampires?" Giles asked, but he had already pulled on his coat was and sorting over weapons in a chest in the corner of the room.  
  
"Um ... I don't think so," Xander hedged. "At least, I've never seen a vampire that had wings ... or tentacles."  
  
"Sounds more like my area." Sarah bent over Giles' shoulder. "Bring in what distance weapons you can. I know Buffy's hell on wheels with those stakes, but some of these, you're not gonna want to get that close to. Xander, would you call my place and get Meli and Wren in on this?"  
  
Xander tried the phone while Sarah and Giles rapidly went into some kind of weapons-speak. "Line's busy," he said after trying a couple of times.  
  
"Damn. I told them not to hook computers to both lines."  
  
"Ill run over," Xander offered and dashed out the door.  
  
"Xander!" Giles bellowed.. Xander stuck his head in again. "You shouted, oh mighty Watcher?"  
  
"Where is this taking place?" Giles asked mildly, his tone belying his expression.  
  
"Oh." Xander ducked his head sheepishly. "Remember that picnic Willow dragged us to? The one on the overlook by the beach, when Buffy made those cream puffs, except they weren't because she misread the recipe and used sour cream instead of whipped cream? There. Shall I go now?"  
  
"Yes, by all means," Giles said faintly. Xander bounded away, and Giles glanced at Sarah. "I know it seems that we're very disorganised, but..."  
  
"Hey," Sarah said with understanding, "you should see some of my guys." She looked at the pile of weapons with satisfaction, then stood up again. "Can you get all of these there on your own?"  
"I believe so."  
  
"Good." She grinned, fanged and feral. "I'll meet you there." And she was gone through the door Xander had left open.  
  
*  
  
Buffy just wished she could catch her breath.  
  
Sarah had been right. This wasn't like fighting vampires. She had fought demons before, but it was usually just one or two at a time. Sarah had said demons were territorial and didn't often attack in packs. But this time was apparently different.   
  
And they moved differently than she was used to. These creatures had the wrong number of arms and legs, and their sense of balance and movement were different. At least vampires were still built like humans, despite their speed and strength.  
  
Her side ached where a reptilian thing had hit her with its tail and knocked the air out of her. She could keep moving, but her stomach muscles kept clenching in protest. Not for the first time, she was thankful that Giles has pounded moves into her until she could flow through them without thinking. If she could just catch her breath, she'd be fine.  
  
There was a blur in the peripheral vision, and the demon that had been approaching her from behind suddenly flew over her head. From its expression, Buffy gathered that it hadn't been a planned flight, and she spun around. Sarah grinned at her, her eyes and face as feral as a vampire's , and Buffy realised that the other woman was enjoying the fight with a glee that was inhuman. Sarah caught another demon around its throat, in the same grip Buffy had seen her use on the vampire in the alley. The demon's skin parted as she squeezed, her eyes blazing green. The demon twitched, and she tossed it aside to die.  
  
The demons paused, not sure which of the two targets to pursue, but those precious few seconds were all that Buffy needed to catch her breath. She slipped into cold, unthinking slaying.  
  
Sarah had no stake, and in another of those split seconds, Buffy held up one in offer. Sarah shook her head, grinning through her fangs, and the horrified little voice in the back of Buffy's head that never quite went away, screamed that Sarah was enjoying ripping them apart with her claws. Then someone over in the sidelines shouted, and the demons moved in as a pack again.  
  
"Do we have an audience?" Sarah shouted over the din of fighting.  
  
Fortunately, just about anything will die if it is stabbed through the chest with a stake. However, it was more of a problem when you couldn't tell where its chest was. Buffy danced rather helplessly around a furry blob that oozed hissing goop, then darted in and drove her stake through the topmost part of it. It gurgled and disintegrated into a pile of moldy gelatin. "I'll never eat Jell-O again." Buffy made a face. "Yeah, there's a group of vampires over there. under those trees."  
  
Sarah shoved her hair out of her eyes and ducked a tentacle. She grabbed it as it went by and bit it. The demon squealed and pulled back sharply. Still yipping, it ran. Sarah grinned after it.  
  
This time, the blurs came from either side. and Meliaka and Wren flanked them both. They had grins almost identical to Sarah's, their hands clawed. They never shifted out of human form, but the three of them flowed into fighting patterns that fed off of each other, with the familiarity built in years of fighting together.  
  
Buffy felt left out.  
  
Then there was a whoop as Xander bounded into view, armed with a baseball bat, then Oz appeared on her other side, a stake in one hand, and a pair of sharpened drumsticks tucked in his pocket. Willow stood behind him with her own armload of stakes. She began chanting furiously, her eyes blazing similar to the half-demons. Buffy had a brief second of recognition; the spell was similar to the one Willow used to float pencils. These words were sharper, harsher, and the first stake in her arms rose and flew over Oz's shoulder and into the demon he was fighting, as straight and as true as the crossbow bolt Giles fired into the one Xander was fending off with his bat.  
  
They stood together in their own team, fighting with their own rhythm, and Buffy felt her own, almost inhuman, grin pulling at her face as she staked a demon coming at Willow.  
  
Then Giles suddenly shouted, and blue light blazed around him. Everyone on the field broke away in surprise, as the Watcher held the Globe above his head.   
  
Then he spun and threw it. One of the vampires on the sidelines screamed in protest, then again in panic. The Globe blazed light like a comet, hung briefly in the air, then plummeted off the cliff to the jagged rocks below. In the sudden silence, they all heard the tiny shattering of glass.  
  
In ten seconds, the field was empty of anything less than half-human.  
  
Buffy stared at Giles in disbelief from her half-crouch on the ground. Giles smiled slightly at the dumbfounded faces around him. He help up his crossbow. "At least we didn't break this one," he said with satisfaction  
  
  



	15. Default Chapter Title

Home is Where You Hang Your Crossbow  
  
Chapter Fifteen  
  
by Kamara   
stealthbunny@msn.com  
  
"I don't get it," Cordelia said. "What does that Orb do, anyway?"  
  
Giles pushed his glasses up further on his nose and took a deep breath.  
"In English, and in words of less than three syllables," Cordelia said quickly.   
  
Giles deflated slightly. "Yes. Well, Ikit was one of the most powerful of the creators of magical tools. She created her Globe as a magic sensor, which would lead the person carrying it to energy sources. Rather like a divining rod, I suppose."  
  
Cordelia shrugged. "That doesn't sound so bad."  
  
"Well, it did become rather sought after almost immediately. Every magic worker who was looking for a power boost wanted it. As Willow can testify," and Giles nodded at the redhead who was absorbed in ancient books, "magic is addictive. It is hard to be satisfied with what you know. You always want more, and for a great many, they don't care how they get it."  
  
"So that explains the glowing." Cordelia frowned at a fingernail and dug around in her purse until she found a file and attacked the offending nail.  
  
Giles frowned, sensing that he was losing his audience. "The problem was that it was more powerful than Ikit had intended. Apparently, it also was capable of storing such raw energy, in a rather large capacity. It was rather unobtrusive about the whole thing. No one really knew just how much energy it had until it created a black hole in Ikit's laboratory that ate the building and half the city block. Ikit decided that it was far too powerful and that she should destroy it. However, it was so powerful that destroying it would roughly be the equivalent of setting off an atom bomb."  
  
Cordelia stared at him, her fingernails forgotten. "And you just chuck it off a cliff.... because ... ?"  
  
"Ah," and Giles looked very pleased with himself. "You see, Ikit couldn't destroy the Globe, but her mentor, Gekkos, was able to come up with a way to siphon the energy out of it. Once it was... empty, as it were... it was quite harmless. Rather than destroy it, Gekkos put a stasis spell on it. It was still a rather useful magic sensor, and he thought that it might yet prove to be useful. However, it apparently was shoved away in a cupboard someplace and forgotten. Then, some years later, the building was burnt to the ground in a political uprising at the time, which is entirely fascinating..." Giles glanced at the faces around him, their eyes beginning to glaze over. "Yes, well, perhaps that can wait for another time. Gekkos and Ikit were both killed, and the Orb was never seen again."  
  
"Until it shows up in a flea market in Sunnydale?" Cordelia raised a sceptical eyebrow.  
  
"Yes." Giles smiled brightly. "And since Gekkos was the only one who could lift the stasis spell, I was fairly certain the Globe was still harmless."  
  
"Fairly certain?" Cordelia repeated.  
  
"Well, there was always the chance he had removed it at one time himself,"   
Giles admitted. "But I figured the chances of that were fairly slim."  
  
Cordelia set down her nail file and leaned forward. "You mean, after all this fuss, all this fighting, and, God. all that hideously boring reading, that miserable piece of glass is little more than a... than a..."  
  
"Unusual paperweight," Giles finished, beaming.  
  
Cordelia stared at him. "I hate you all," she said and went to work at her nails again.  
  
"The best part of it," Buffy grinned, "was that Trick and his goons still don't know what happened."  
  
Willow looked over the top of her book and giggled. "They probably think we're crazy."  
  
"And they wouldn't be very far off," Cordelia muttered.  
  
Willow laughed again. "Maybe I should post something on the 'Net. Y'know, let them know." Then she cocked her head, considering. "Nah," she decided with a malicious glint in her eyes. "Let 'em suffer."  
  
Sarah shrugged her knapsack on her shoulder. "And on that note..."  
  
"Do you really have to go?" Buffy asked. "I mean, you came to help and all, and now you're leaving."  
  
"No," Sarah corrected. "I cam to see if you needed help." She grinned ruefully. "And I think your group is about as with it as any of my troops are."  
  
"Your troops?" Giles asked.  
  
"Yes." She met his gaze steadily. "It's time I go home." She shrugged and gave the same grin to Buffy. "I guess if you can return home, maybe I can too." She and Buffy exchanged knowing expressions. "Anyway," Sarah said, "I have to head up north to that body shop Willow found for me."  
  
They all walked her out to her car. It was starting to grow dusk, and Buffy sighed, remembering that there was probably a ton of homework in her own knapsack. She had kicked it under her bed in an effort to avoid seeing it and feeling guilty. Not that it was much more likely to get finished tonight, either. She glanced at Xander, who was about as likely to study tonight as she was. She raised an eyebrow at him, and he nodded in return -- he would help her patrol tonight and let the others get home early to work on their own assignments.  
  
As if on cue, Principal Snyder was coming up the stairs as they came out the school doors. "Only he would be here on a Sunday," Buffy hissed to Xander.  
  
He gave her a pained look. "Buffy, we're here on a Sunday."  
  
"It's gotta be different," she insisted.  
  
Snyder focused upon them the sneering look he was so famous for. "If it isn't Sunnydale's' own little group of delinquents." His gaze included Giles, and hesitated on Sarah, not sure if she should be included in his automatic disapproval. "And how is the Big Sistering going?" he asked reluctantly. "Have you had to bail any of them out of jail, yet?"  
  
Sarah beamed at him. "Actually, it's been going wonderfully. They are incredible children. I quit." She bounded past him, enjoying his doubletake.  
  
"Is there no one who understands the word 'responsibility' anymore?" he snarled.  
  
"It's a noun, meaning..." Willow wilted against Oz under Snyder's gaze. "Oh, that wasn't meant to be answered, was it?"  
  
Giles muffled a snort of laughter, and the principal stomped up the steps and slammed the doors shut behind him.  
  
"I really can't stand that man," Sarah muttered. "He's a slimy monster of his own sort."  
  
"But I can't slay him," Buffy pouted.  
  
Sarah let herself grin for a moment. "Ah, but I don't have those restrictions..." She sighed and shook her head. "Ah, well. " She looked helplessly at her car, then gave it an encouraging pat on the hood. She tossed her pack in the overly-full back seat. "I guess that's it," she said gruffly.  
  
They stood next to the car in uncomfortable silence.  
  
"Oh, hell," Sarah sighed again. She collected hugs from the Slayerettes, and stopped in front of Buffy. They exchanged long looks, that Willow recognised as that same wordless communication that she and Oz shared. She understood the general gist of it: Be strong. Keep fighting. Live, because you might be dead tomorrow. She heard Giles sigh next to her; he hadn't missed the exchange either.  
  
Then Sarah winked at Buffy and bounded over to Giles, catching the Watcher by his tie and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. He sputtered and she grinned wickedly at him, then swung the car door open and slid inside. "Willow, you have Wren's e-mail address?"   
  
"Yep," Willow said cheerfully. "We'll keep in touch."  
  
Sarah started the car, let it run for a moment, then eased it away from the curb without another look back.  
  
Buffy moved closer to Giles. "Is that what I'm going to be like?" she asked quietly, so the others wouldn't bear.  
  
Her Watcher took off his glasses and began to clean them. "Perhaps," he said, not looking at her. If you live that long echoed silently between them. "And perhaps not," he said, replacing his glasses and meeting her gaze. "There's no way of telling, Buffy. You know that."  
  
"I know," she said softly, and gave him a little crooked smile. "But sometimes... 1 just wish..."  
  
"Wish what?"  
  
She shrugged, and looked away, refusing to meet his eyes again.  
  
"It's not like it the end of the world, Will," Xander was saying, and Giles and Buffy gratefully let themselves be distracted. "After all, we've been on the verge of the end of the word many times, and this definitely doesn't I qualify."  
  
Willow's face was downcast. "Yeah, I know... but...  
  
"What is it, Will?" Buffy asked.  
  
Willow shrugged. "I just realised I have to find something else to give my aunt for Hanukkah."  
  
end  
  
  



End file.
